


Falling Short

by meandering_bluebottle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Mystery, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Romance, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 54,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22683850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meandering_bluebottle/pseuds/meandering_bluebottle
Summary: Scorpius is the Slytherin Enigma and Rose is the Gryffindor Gab. They both have secrets that they don't want anyone to know but after a chance encounter they form an unexpected frienship and somehow begin to figure each other out.  Follow Rose and Scorpius through their seventh year to find out how trust is formed, how mysteries are uncovered and how they find a way to survive.
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Comments: 30
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: All recognisable characters and settings are the intellectual property of J K Rowling.

Rose Weasley lay between crisp linen in the hospital wing. It was Rose's seventh year at Hogwarts and merely a day until the Easter holidays. Unfortunately, instead of getting ready for the break, she was biding her time in the hospital wing due to a quidditch mishap. As she was going for the quaffle, Rose was hit in the shoulder by a well aimed bludger and fell off her broom, only to hit her head sickeningly as she hit the ground. She had been in the hospital wing for two days now, and although her shoulder was healed up, Madame McKinnon wouldn't let her go due to her head injury. Apparently head injuries took time to heal, even with magic and potions involved. Rose was always quick to protest when Madame McKinnon said she couldn't leave yet, but every time Rose tried to make her point by getting out of bed and gathering her things, she would quickly resign as her head would throb and she would become dizzy. Resigned to laying in the hospital wing with nothing much to do but wait for random visitors to arrive, Rose was becoming rather bored, not to mention worried that she wouldn't be ready to catch the Hogwarts Express back to London the following day. While Rose's immediate family consisted of herself, her brother and parents, her extended family was rather large and family occasions were always a huge affair. Each Easter, Christmas, birthday and, well let's face it, every Sunday was considered one of these occasions and Rose couldn't bare the thought of not being able to make it to this years Easter festivities. Trying not to think of this, Rose shifted her gaze from the ceiling to the curtain covered bed beside her. During her second day in 'captivity', another patient had joined her, but she was unable to see who it was as the white curtains were drawn around the bed. This had her mind reeling over the possibilities of the other occupant's injuries. Normally they only closed the curtain if the injury was extreme or disfiguring. As Rose mused upon the possible ailments of her new companion, a visitor arrived. Rose looked up and smiled.

"Hello miss Liluna!" She said cheerfully. Lily Potter rolled her eyes.

"Thank Merlin only you call me that."

"Oh you love it! And besides, it's my own special nickname and you should feel heart-warmed by my generosity!"

"Whatever you say Rosie." Lily responded with a smile. She furrowed her brow and gave Rose a once over glance.

"So how are you feeling?" Rose's smile faltered slightly.

"I feel fine...when I'm sitting or laying down. I've tried convincing McKinnon to let me go but each time I protest my body doesn't want to let me get away with it."

"Why, what happens?"

"Well, my head consistently wants to submit to gravity's force, the world lets me know its spinning and my food doesn't really want to stay down."

"That's one hell of a reaction."

"Tell me about it."

"So do you think you'll be ready to leave by tomorrow?" Rose sighed.

"I don't know. I haven't tried to get out of bed yet today, just trying to build up to it. I've got a new roommate though, did you notice?" Rose said, changing the subject. Lily looked to the bed to Rose's left.

"Ah, something serious I see. Don't think they'll be great company. What do you think it is? Spattergroit? Long lasting Bat Bogey hex?"

"Why, was it you who did it?" Rose laughed, "I was thinking along the same lines, although then I just thought maybe they're just really ugly normally and don't want anyone to witness their vile visage."

Lily laughed out loud. Rose was known as being one of the most kind people in all of Hogwarts, there was no way anyone would ever take a comment like that seriously from her. Rose was the type of person that was friends with everyone. She would flit from group to group and table to table, always having someone to talk to. She didn't have any 'best' friends but Rose didn't care. She had her family.

"So, why hasn't your brother attempted a visit yet?" Rose asked, referring to Lily's older brother Albus.

"Funny you should mention that. He's been trying to put something together for you while you've been stuck in here. He says it's his way to make the time go faster in what he called 'that pristine hell hole'."

Rose had to laugh. Trust Albus to spend so much time organising something sweet and miss the timeframe for being actually useful.

"By the time Albus is finished, I'm sure I'll be out of this place. Just tell him to get his arse up here so _he_ can break my boredom, not his stupid present."

"I'm sure he'll resent you for that comment. He was going to get you a whole bunch of chocolate but seeing as though its coming up to Easter, he figured you may not appreciate that, so he had to start from scratch. I'm sure whatever he's planned with at least be useful the next time you're in the hospital wing?" Lily offered optimistically.

"Don't worry, after this stint, I'm not looking forward to coming back here any time soon. Hey, don't you have to be in class or something?" Rose asked. Lily shook her head.

"Nah, I don't have to be in class until one o'clock."

"Ah, Lils?"

"Yeah?"

"You do realise its actually quarter to two?"

Lily looked at her watch. It was a muggle waterproof watch her dad had bought for her to use at home. Years ago Lily's brother had gotten what she described as a 'wicked underwater muggle watch' and insisted that she get one too. She always wore it but often forgot that the concentration of magic at Hogwarts rendered the watch unreliable.

"Shit! I've missed half of class. Oh I'm dead. Gotta go Rosie, see you round?"

"Only if you're round here I will!" Rose yelled out as Lily sprinted out the door. Rose sighed again. She had never been so bored.

* * *

Having nothing else better to do, Rose had fallen asleep. Upon waking she realised that the curtains around the bed next to her had been drawn. Looking over, she noticed a familiar blonde, bespectacled boy reading a book.

Scorpius Malfoy had a strange reputation at Hogwarts. Every student knew who he was by name, but his reputation was somewhat of a mystery. Scorpius was the Slytherin enigma. Everyone knew of his family's reputation and many students' parents had been affected by his father and grandfather's actions. But Scorpius himself hadn't carried on that reputation. Scorpius didn't seem to fit in Slytherin. He wasn't openly cocky or arrogant. He didn't tease or bully people as others expected him to when he began at Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin. However he rarely complimented people either. In fact, he rarely spoke at all. Scorpius was often seen in class writing furiously, some would say non-stop. He wore black rimmed glasses whenever in class or when out of class reading a book or magazine of interest. If not reading out of class, Scorpius could usually be seen wandering the castle aimlessly, always alone. Even at the Slytherin table and in class, Scorpius was usually alone. In her early years, Rose often wondered whether the other Slytherins had shunned him because he wasn't what a typical Slytherin should be. However, then she remembered that the prejudices of the past were not as strong as they used to be and over the years she had made her own friends within the rival house. All people could actually say about Scorpius was this: He was tall, blonde, possibly very smart and a loner. Of anything else, no-one knew for sure.

Rose, being Rose, decided to start up a conversation.

"Ah so it's Scorpius Malfoy that's my new roomie!" She said with a smile. Scorpius started and looked up from his book, not expecting to be addressed. He glanced at Rose in her bed and grimaced slightly before going back to his book. Not to be deterred, Rose continued.

"I'm glad to see the curtains are open now. Usually they only draw the curtains for something really serious. Must mean you're getting better! What are you in for anyway?"

During the long pause before Scorpius replied, Rose could have sworn she saw his lips mouth the words before finally replying.

"Good spot to read. You?" He finally replied cryptically.

"Ah, I get it, I'm being nosey. Sorry! Well I'm in here bored out of my mind because Sean Martin is far too good at being a beater."

"I know." Scorpius replied much quicker this time and Rose didn't mistake the force behind his words. Rose chose to ignore his fierce response and continued.

"Yeah well, he aimed the bludger at me, hit my shoulder and of course me being me, I fell off my broom and hit my head. McKinnon won't let me go until she's convinced I can walk 50 metres without wanting to fall over or throw up. What good is modern magic if it can't even cure brain trauma? Did you see the game anyway?" she asked conversationally. Scorpius was now looking back at his book and was shaking his head.

"I suppose not. Don't think I've ever seen you in the stands during a game. Quidditch not your thing ey?" She asked. Scorpius shook his head again, still not looking up from his book. Rose realised that she was disturbing his reading.

"Sorry, I'll let you get back to your book." She said, disappointed that the conversation didn't go any better. She was really excited that someone was finally joining her in the hospital wing. Just her luck that she was stuck with probably the most mute person in the school. She couldn't even talk _at_ him because he was clearly busy reading. Rose decided to interrupt him one more time.

"You wouldn't happen to have another book there I could read do you?"

This time Scorpius looked up. He shifted his gaze down as if thinking and then leant over to his bedside cabinet and pulled out a thick book. He silently handed it over to Rose. Luckily Scorpius' long reach allowed him to close the gap between the beds. Rose flicked through the book and glanced at the final page.

"One thousand and twenty four pages? You sure don't muck around do you? I hope I'm not in here for the whole length of time this takes me to read!" She said with a chuckle. While Scorpius had gone back to his own book again, Rose swore she saw the corner of his mouth twitch slightly. This lightened her heart and she began to read the blurb of the book. While her new roommate was not very vocal, at least now she would have something to do.

* * *

Rose woke up the next morning almost forgetting that it was the first day of the holidays. She had started to read the book Scorpius leant her the previous night and had been up all night getting through to the 400 page mark. She wasn't particularly taken with the storyline, but she was sure if she kept reading something spectacular would happen. She figured the author was slowly building up the storyline to create intrigue and then everything would start moving at a fast pace. Rose only realised that it was the start of the holidays when Madam McKinnon came along with her usual bundle of potions.

"Miss Weasley, how are we feeling this morning?"

"We are feeling pretty good, if not very tired. How is Madame McKinnon feeling?" Rose asked with cheek. The older lady smiled slightly.

"Madame McKinnon would be better if Miss Weasley wasn't talking in the third person. Makes me believe your brain trauma was worse than I feared. Now, have these potions and wait half an hour before getting out of bed." Rose was about to protest but Madame McKinnon quickly continued, "And before you argue Miss Weasley, I wanted to let you know that _if_ you are able to walk around all morning under the supervision of your friends _without_ feeling ill or dizzy or like throwing up, then you may take the train home for the holidays."

Rose was uplifted but before she could say another word, a potion was thrust into her mouth and a cup of another potion was forced into her hand.

"Yeuch," exclaimed Rose. She downed the next potion and held the cup up to Madame McKinnon, but she was now placing potions on Scorpius' bedside table. Rose didn't think it was fair that he got to sleep in while every morning that she had been in here she had been shaken awake to take her potions. Madame McKinnon returned to grab her cup.

"Half and hour Miss Weasley, then you may go downstairs for breakfast."

Rose nodded in understanding. As the nurse left the room, Rose felt the usual boredom creeping up on her. In half an hour she could continue with the book that was leant to her. As she reached over to collect the book, she took a glance at Scorpius' bed. He lay with his blonde hair falling into his closed eyes, one hand under the pillow and the other hanging over the edge of the mattress. Rose smiled. She had acknowledged that Scorpius Malfoy was rather attractive in fourth year, just about the same time she acknowledged all the other handsome males in the school. Many of the girls had late night gossip sessions and fantasised about what Scorpius Malfoy was really like. Some of the muggle born girls had come to the conclusion that he was a superhero like in the comic books; silent and brooding by day, clad in tights and saving civilians at night. Others were more intrigued by him being a super villain, which seemed fitting with the Malfoy history. Rose however, hadn't given it much thought. She just wondered whether the boy was that way by choice or by nature. She hoped by choice because that way, someday someone would have the chance to get to know him properly. Like the book he leant her, she was simply intrigued by him. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Rose made her way down to the great hall in good spirits. Scorpius was still sleeping when she left so she never got to wish him a happy Easter, but she couldn't help but think that she felt perfectly fine and would be able to head home for Easter. Rose cheerfully joined her cousin Albus at the Gryffindor table.

"So, didn't get to finish my present? You know I could have used with something to kill my boredom, or at least some chocolate." Albus looked almost horrified.

"I didn't want to get you chocolate because it's almost Easter! And I promise I'm nearly done with your present. You may just have to use it to kill the boredom next time."

Rose furrowed her brow.

"Why is it that everyone thinks I'll end up back in there so soon?"

Almost half of the Gryffindor table turned around to give Rose disbelieving glances. Rose sighed.

"Fine. That place is like a second home to me, I get it! Al, you're lucky Scorpius was in the hospital wing yesterday. I was able to borrow a book to kill the boredom."

Albus raised an eyebrow.

"You with a book voluntarily? I would have liked to see that. Did you get much out of the brooding blonde?"

"Well I tried, but all in all, no. He seems alright he just…doesn't talk. It's kind of weird."

"More like kind of creepy." Albus corrected, shuddering to make his point.

"What was the first thing our parents taught us when we were kids? Judge a person by who _they_ are, not their parents. Merlin knows you should sympathise with that. And besides, hasn't Scorpius' dad at least reformed or something?"

"Still doesn't mean he and his dad aren't creepy. And he calls me _Potter._ "

"Um, Al, he calls you 'Potter' because you call him 'Malfoy'. Don't come complaining to me because you two have some strange boy thing where you don't use first names. Other people call you Potter, why does it matter if he does?"

"It's not that he calls me 'Potter', it's how he says it. It's like…forced out of his mouth or something _P_ otter." Rose laughed.

"You are such a girl ' _it's not what he says, it's just how he says it!'_ You haven't asked me how I am yet."

"Sorry, how are you? Feeling alright I see?"

"Yep, which means I still get to go home for Easter, bully for me! I should really go and pack, I've been in that 'pristine hell hole' for three days now."

"Okay then, I'll see you later if you're going to pack."

"Actually I need to wait for someone to escort me to the common room. McKinnon said I couldn't go anywhere unassisted this morning in case I need, well, assistance for a dizzy spell or puke fest."

"If that's what might happen, I bags not being the one to escort you."

"You couldn't anyway _mon petite champignon_ as you cannot go up to my dorm room. I'll just wait for one of the girls to finish."

"Why am I forever a mushroom to you?"

Rose was waiting for her dorm-mate Maree to finish her last bite of toast. Maree had gestured to Rose that she could accompany her up to the dorms. As Rose got up from her seat, she turned to Albus.

"Coz I like to leave you in the dark and feed you bullshit." Rose said with a cheeky grin and waved to Albus.

Walking up the numerous flights of stairs to her dorm was starting to wear Rose down. Walking down the stairs to the great hall was fine earlier but now she was starting to feel a little odd. As Rose finally made it up to the dorm, she slowly dragged her trunk from under her bed, feeling rather sluggish.

"You okay Rosie?" Maree stopped her chatter about how annoying her boyfriend was to check if Rose was alright. Rose put a hand to her head.

"Yeah I think I'm fine. Just a bit breathless from the walk that's all." But Rose was beginning to think that she wasn't as fine as she was making out to be. She was currently breaking out into a cold sweat and she didn't seem to have much energy as she selected clothes from the closet.

"Rosie, I think you should sit down and rest for a bit, you look really pale." Rose laughed.

"I always look pale Maree, it's what us redheads do best." But Rose sat down anyway. Maree put her had to Rose's head.

"You don't feel too warm, but your eyes are a bit glassy and you're sweating. Rosie dear I'm not sure you're fine at all. I know holidays and stuff are important for your lot but you really need to go back up to the hospital wing."

Rose's stomach plummeted, from her head injury or from disappointment, she wasn't sure. Either way, she wanted to prove Maree wrong.

"No no, I've sat down a bit and feel better now. I'll be fine. Can you help me pack, I'm running out of time."

Maree nodded and folded some clothes for Rose. Rose eventually decided to get up from her bed but one wobble and she needed Maree's hands to steady her. Rose looked at Maree and almost cried. She wouldn't get to go home after all.

* * *

Rose was lying in the hospital wing again. She had just said goodbye to her family who were going to get to go home while she was stuck at school for two whole weeks. She couldn't verbally express to them how upset she was about missing her first family occasion, but she was sure the fact that her constant tears and inability to talk from fear of sobbing that they understood. Rose glanced to her left and saw that Scorpius was still here, head in a book. Rose figured there was nothing else to do but pick up her own borrowed book and to finish reading.

It was another two days before Rose could leave the hospital wing. Madame McKinnon was finally satisfied that Rose was not going to drop dead without bed rest or supervision and decided to let her go. Rose carried her borrowed one thousand and twenty four page book down to the great hall for breakfast after having finally finished it. She planned to return it to Scorpius as she knew he would have missed the Hogwarts Express also. Upon entering the hall, Rose saw Scorpius sitting in his usual spot at the end of the Slytherin table. Only a small smattering of students had remained for the holidays. Rose did a quick count. There were 11 people all up. Rose strolled confidently over to the Slytherin table and sat opposite Scorpius. She put the book on the table and slid it toward the boy.

"Thanks for the book. It did its job of curing my boredom for a while. Can't say I liked the ending though."

Scorpius stared at her and looked at his surroundings. Once he was convinced that he was indeed at his own table, it was too late to reply as Rose continued.

"I mean, fair enough that there needed to be that whole back story to explain about the trials and tribulations of the country and people, but I was expecting it to actually take off somewhere in the middle, not just continue to dwindle on. And the romance between Lady Olga and the army sergeant, I just didn't find that believable."

Rose expected Scorpius to reply but he continued to stare at her disbelievingly. She continued on.

"Oh please don't tell me you actually thought their romance was believable? It was such a bad match. He was abusive and put his army men before her and he hated children, I mean, she could have done so much better. Well she could have if she had not been such a snob."

During her rant, Rose scooped up the plate that had appeared in front of her and began piling it up with pancakes. Scorpius realised that he had been staring, and now that it appeared Rose was settling in for breakfast, he decided it might be prudent to answer.

"Ah, thanks." He said. Rose looked at him quizzically, unsure of what he was thanking her for. Worried that she had offended possibly one of his favourite books, she apologised herself.

"Oh sorry, I tend to get carried away with my rants on book reviews."

"N-no, I just _m_ eant thanks for b-bringing it back." Hearing Scorpius' nervous reply, Rose felt a little guilty for forcing her company on the guy. It was obvious he didn't usually talk to people. However, it was two days until Easter and she was stuck at Hogwarts by herself and couldn't bear to be alone. She was hardly ever alone.

"Oh, well that's alright! I wasn't going to steal your book now was I? I don't really read if I can avoid it anyway."

Scorpius looked up from his breakfast quickly and raised his eyebrow at Rose. Rose smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, I know. Everyone thinks that I must like to read because of my grades and who my mum is but to be honest, I only read if there is a benefit, like passing an assignment. My uncle Harry tells me that I have my mum's intelligence with my dad's motivation. So in other words, smart but lazy."

Scorpius merely nodded and went back to his breakfast. Unperturbed, Rose continued with her breakfast. After a long period of silence where both students finished eating, Scorpius rose from his seat.

"Thanks," he said, holding up the book. Rose smiled in response and finished the last sip of her orange juice. Scorpius turned around and made his way to the front entrance. Before too long, Rose was matching his stride.

"So, what is there to do at this school when there are no classes?" she asked, not noticing the mildly panicked look on Scorpius' face as he glanced at her. Again, it took him a while to reply as he was trying to think of something that would deter her from wanting his company.

"Walk." He replied.

"Oh great, I haven't walked around the grounds since third year I reckon! Where do you like to go?" Scorpius looked at her incredulously.

"Around the lake." He answered, hoping that the prospect of a long trek around the lake would finally discourage her.

"As in around the whole thing? Wow, that's amazing. Do you do that often? How long does it take you?"

Scorpius grimaced and closed his eyes in mild frustration while she wasn't looking. Truth be told, he had only ever walked a quarter of the way around the lake, not wanting to venture too far from the castle or civilisation.

"A-a while." He replied, not even knowing the answer himself.

"Well we certainly do have a while!" she responded and smiled at him before taking off at a quicker pace.

"Come on!" she urged.

Scorpius sighed and quickened his pace. Hopefully, after they walked around the lake he would be able to shake her off.

* * *

Two hours into the journey, Rose insisted that they take a break. Not because they were becoming tired, but because they needed to 'enjoy the view'. Scorpius sat down on a protruding tree root while Rose made a spot for herself on the ground. As Rose looked out onto the lake and toward the now distant castle, Scorpius rubbed his temples. Rose had not stopped trying to make conversation with him the whole way and during this time, he had barely replied. The result was that Scorpius had now learnt all about Rose's family, her studies, her favourite quidditch teams, subjects and foods. As Rose turned to talk to him yet again, Scorpius decided he couldn't take much more. As Rose's mouth began to open, Scorpius bet her to it.

"Sorry b-b-ut could you p-please just – st-stop talking for a while?"

Rose was shocked more by his sudden burst of speech rather than what he was saying. She immediately apologised.

"Sorry, I tend to talk a lot. Verbal diarrhoea my dad calls it. You know my-" Rose stopped abruptly as Scorpius gave her a bit of a glare.

"Okay, I get it. Shutting up for the rest of the trip." She promised, and true to her word, they made it around the lake without another word.

The next day, Rose made her way down to the great hall for breakfast yet again. She had spent a rather boring night in her tower listening to music and testing out some new handy spells. Rose eyed off the Gryffindor table with its two young occupants and then spied Scorpius in his usual spot at the Slytherin table. Rose automatically drifted toward the person of her own age and sat across for Scorpius yet again. As happened the day before, Scorpius looked up at her questionably.

"Morning!" Rose greeted. Scorpius nodded slightly in response.

"I hope you don't mind, I thought I would join you again."

Scorpius looked slightly panicked.

"Don't worry, I won't talk too much. Or at all if I can help it." She stated.

Rose spent the day following Scorpius around again, this time to the library and then out onto the grounds as he read a book. Rose occupied her time next to him by drawing simple sketches and occasionally talking to him about something that she thought up. Each time she expressed a thought or opinion, she would receive either a mild glare or blank stare from Scorpius. Rose was beginning to think that being alone would trumps being in the company of someone who was so passive. However, she continued to seek out Scorpius' presence by the third day.

* * *

By the time Easter actually came, Rose hadn't said any more than 'morning' and 'see you later' to Scorpius each day. She had become accustomed to the silence. Coming from such a boisterous family she had never had this level of peace. As Easter Sunday approached, Rose received the expected abundance of chocolate eggs and letters from family. Looking at her overflowing parcels surrounding her on her bed, she chose a selection of eggs from different packages and put them together in some left over cellophane. She completed her usual morning routine of heading down to eat at the Slytherin table. Scorpius was, of course, sitting in his usual seat and looked up with his eyebrows raised in a greeting as he had done the previous mornings before going back to his breakfast and reading the morning paper. Rose placed the cellophane package in front of him at the table. She smiled.

"Happy Easter Scorpius. Hope you like chocolate." She laughed slightly as she said the last part. Scorpius looked up from his paper at Rose with an expression she had never seen before. Rose simply smiled at him again and began collecting her breakfast.

"Thanks, I love chocolate." Scorpius said as Rose finished piling up her plate. Scorpius looked down at his paper again almost sheepishly.

As they finished breakfast, they followed their usual routine. Scorpius would finish first and simply keep reading the paper until Rose was finished her food. Then Scorpius would stand up and wait for Rose to join him before they made their way out on to the grounds to sit under a tree or beside the lake. Today, they were positioned under a large beech tree near the lake. Scorpius continued to read his paper while Rose got out her notebook and began drawing idle sketches. Scorpius couldn't concentrate on his paper as the breeze continued to ruffle the cellophane on his Easter present. He couldn't believe that after a whole week of barely talking to the girl beside him and shunning nearly every attempt she made at conversation, that she would continue to want to be around him and show him as much kindness as he knew she did everyone else. He decided that for once, he had to put aside all his insecurities and pre-conceived notions and take a risk.

"Why are you hanging out with m-me?" He asked, almost as shocked as Rose was at the sound of his own voice beginning a conversation.

"Well, why not?" She replied, honestly perplexed at his question. Scorpius thought for a moment.

"I just thought that you w-wouldn't want to associate with me b-b-ecause of _m_ y name," he paused, "and how I've treated you."

Rose was so shocked at the fact he was talking to her that she couldn't fully grasp what he was asking her.

"Why would I care what your name is? I mean, Scorpius is hardly a strange name for a wizard, and you haven't been that bad to me."

Rose looked up at Scorpius with furrowed brows as he looked at her incredulously. Rose stared at him for a second and then smirked.

"Okay, so you have been pretty rude to me this week. But apart from getting irritated at my constant talking, you really haven't been that bad. I've enjoyed the company."

Scorpius shook his head in disbelief.

"Sorry _f_ or that, I'm just n-not used to talking to people that m-much. And I _m_ eant about being a _M_ alfoy, not my first name."

Rose looked at him and realised that here sat before her a boy who clearly had many insecurities despite his strong presence. It made her think that he was this way by choice which made her glad.

"Merlin, you sound like Albus, all this business with last names. You should know that it doesn't matter. I mean, you do care that I'm a Weasley?"

Scorpius shook his head.

"Well, there you go. You don't have to have an opinion of someone just because other people think that's how you should act."

Scorpius thought for a moment.

"Too b-b-bad other people don't think the way you do." He said matter of factly.

"Don't worry, I know that there are plenty of people who do. Maybe it's just got to be your job to find them!" She said cheerfully. Scorpius was beginning to think that Rose only ever said things cheerfully. She never seemed perturbed by anything. He wanted to smile but stopped himself.

"I can point you in the direction of them if you like, and I have to say that most of them are of the female persuasion."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's true! I promise you! You are the constant topic of debate at any girl gathering. 'Ooh what do you think he looks like with his shirt off?' 'I think he just wears those glasses because they look good, he can see perfectly fine.' 'Oh if only he'd talk to _me_ , I know I could get him to open up.' Blah blah blah."

Scorpius couldn't hold back his smile anymore.

"Ah so it's what _all_ the girls say? N-not just one girl in p-p- _p_ articular?" he said with a grin. Rose looked at him with mock shock.

"Oh sweet Merlin! Did _Scorpius Malfoy_ just crack a joke and _smile?_ I have to take this back to the fan club. I was the one who cracked the Slytherin Enigma!"

"Slytherin En-nigma?" he asked.

"That, I am not making up." Rose reassured him.

"If I'm the Slytherin Enigma, you're the Gryffindor Gab." He replied, becoming shocked at his own ability to continue the conversation. Normally he tried to censor himself and plan what he was going to say, but after spending a week with the usually chatty girl, he had realised that maybe the way he spoke wasn't that much of a concern, at least to her. Rose simply smiled at the boy in front of her. She didn't know exactly what had cracked him but she was enjoying hearing his voice after almost a whole week of silence. She tilted her head as she watched him.

"You should smile more often. You're beautiful when you smile," she said directly.

Scorpius didn't know how to react to that. Was it a compliment or an insult for a boy to be called beautiful? Rose must have noticed how uncomfortable he was with this comment as she laughed and then tried to reassure him.

"Relax, all I meant was that I've hardly ever heard you talk, let alone see you smile. It makes you look much more attractive, you should do it more often!"

Scorpius tried to digest what Rose had just said but still found it unbelievable. Girls weren't usually interested in him, openly anyway. He knew that Rose's comment didn't steam from an attraction to him though. He had learned enough about her during the week to realise that she was simply an open honest person, almost too much on occasion. He thought maybe it was time that he took a leaf out of her book.

"It's n-not that I don't w-w-want to talk to people, I just t-try not to. And if it's going to m-make girls call _m_ e beautiful then I don't think I'll start talking any t-time soon." He said with a small grimace.

"Sorry, but 'handsome' or 'hot' don't really suit you at the moment. Beautiful doesn't just describe looks, but personality as well, and you have a real personality tucked away in there somewhere, I'm sure of it. You've just got to let other people see it too." Rose said with a smile. She was beginning to understand why Scorpius was the way that he was.

"Yeah w-well it's kind of hard to be yourself w-w-when you sound like I do." He replied, averting Rose's gaze. Rose rolled her eyes at him but he didn't see it.

"I can't believe that you have been putting up a façade for almost 7 years just because you stutter!"

Rose continued to watch Scorpius. His head was bowed even further now and Rose could see that he was embarrassed to talk about this.

"I have to say I'm impressed that you have kept this from the whole school for that long. Maybe you do have super-powers. Can I ask how many people know?"

Scorpius cleared his throat before answering.

"M-my family of course. And now you."

There was another pause as Rose tilted her head at him yet again and smiled.

"Wow, so I'm the only witness outside the Malfoy family to know your secret. I should sell this story to the Daily Prophet: "Scorpius Malfoy, Mute and Moody or Disfluent and Delightful?"

This comment got Scorpius to laugh again.

"Delightful? I thought I was b-beautiful?"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I started this fic in 2010 on ff.net and even posted it here but my account has since disappeared so I thought I would return it to this wonderful community. This was my first forray into creating a completely different backstory for Scorpius so I hope you enjoy. Please leave kudos or comments if you enjoyed it or have any feedback, I love hearing from readers!


	2. Chapter 2

Rose and Scorpius sat beside the lake, directly opposite the castle.

"So how long have you stuttered for?"

Rose knew that Scorpius was touchy about his speech, but figured that they had been talking to one another for almost a week now. He may feel more comfortable about it now.

"A l-long time. Well, _f_ or as long as I can remember an-yway." He replied, bowing his head somewhat.

"So what's it like?"

Scorpius looked at Rose with something akin to scorn.

"Okay, having a stutter sucks, I get it!"

Scorpius simply smiled and nodded at her. Rose smiled back at him and shook her head.

"Right, so you don't want to talk about it. But can you tell me how you've gotten around it for the past 7 years? I mean, how does no-one know?"

"Well, you've n-noticed I d-do-don't talk much?"

"Yeah, I'm getting that. But surely you cover it in other ways too? I have heard you answer questions in class."

"I f-figured out that if I wr-write stuff down first or p-practise it in _m_ y head then I can say it easier."

Rose stared at him.

"Oh, is that why you are always writing absolutely everything down in class?"

"W-what so you've b-been spying on m-me in class then?"

"You know what? You're getting a little cocky there, I'm not sure you talking is good for exposing your real personality. I'm an observer, of course I noticed you writing furiously in every class I've ever shared with you. It's kind of hard to miss."

"Well I h-have to write it all dow-n in case the professor asks mme something so I can ju-just read it off the page."

"You do realise that is absolutely crazy don't you?"

"It also helps m-me with remembering stuff too though. I n-ne-never have to study m-much for exams."

"Don't you think it would just be easier to let people know that you stutter so you wouldn't have to do so much work in the first place?"

Scorpius threw the rock he was playing with forcefully into the water.

"No."

"Isn't there something easier you can do then? I mean, can you sometimes feel it coming on or can you predict which words you will stutter on?"

"I can't really fe-eel it coming on b-but I know what sounds are harder or that I stuff up m-more often. It's nor-normally at the start of a word and mo-st often with sounds I ma-make at the front."

Rose gave him a quizzical look.

"I mean sounds l-like sounds that you can make with your lips and tip of the ton-gue. You know like 'm' or 'p-p' or 't'."

Rose looked at him incredulously and lightly slapped him on the arm.

"Oh my gosh, is that why you always say 'Potter' the way you do? You know, like you're forcing out the first syllable? How are you going _Pot_ ter…"

Scorpius nodded.

"That's one of the tricky ones."

"Oh Albus would have egg on his face if he knew that!" Rose saw the strange look Scorpius was giving her and she clarified for him. "He thinks you call him that because you hate him or because you think you're superior or something."

"H-he thinks that?"

Rose smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it. He's particularly paranoid about what people say or do to him. I suppose you can't blame him for being Uncle Harry's son and looking exactly like him. He's been in the media much more than James and Lily purely because he is the spit of his dad."

"I know the f-feeling." Scorpius said quietly and ran a hand through his hair. Rose wasn't exactly sure what she had said that hit a nerve but she could have wagered a guess. She tried to change the topic.

"So, going back to you writing _everything_ anyone says or does in class, don't you think there could be an easier way for you to get things out?"

Scorpius sighed. "Sometimes if I don't have to s-say much I can pr-practise it in my head fi-first."

"Like you were doing in the hospital wing! Man, all of this is starting to make sense now. At least now I know that you weren't mouthing things to yourself because you're strange or socially inept or something. You sure are a crafty wizard aren't you?"

"I t-try."

Rose shook her head in disbelief. "You sure do amaze me."

Scorpius smiled openly at her for probably the tenth time over the holidays. Rose smiled back at him.

"Amazing _and_ beautiful, and yet no-one knows it. What on Earth am I going to do with you?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes self consciously.

They sat in silence for the next 10 minutes.

"We only have one day left of the holidays, should we try and make it around the entire lake?"

Scorpius looked toward the horizon and figured they only had two or three hours until the sun goes down.

"Will we get around be-fore sundown d-do you think?"

"Well how long did it take you last time?" Rose asked. Scorpius looked sheepishly at her. Rose opened her mouth in shock.

"You mean you haven't actually gone around the entire lake before? Why would you say you had then?"

"Be-because I wanted to put put you off following m-me around on that first day."

"In that case I'm surprised I even came back to hang with you!"

"Actually m-me too."

* * *

Rose was ecstatic when the rest of the students finally returned to the castle the next day. She waited by herself at Hogsmeade station, practically bouncing on her toes. Rose had spent the morning talking to Scorpius as usual and had asked him to accompany her to the platform but he refused. Rose was so excited at the prospect of seeing her family again that she didn't mind too much. The walk from the castle to the neighbouring town's station was the longest amount of time she had spent alone over the whole holidays. She craned her neck around the platform barrier when she heard the far off whistle of the scarlet steam train. To Rose, it felt as though the train took half an hour to arrive rather than the two minutes it took for the train to slow to a stop on the platform. As throngs of students exited the carriages, Rose greeted the people she knew enthusiastically and briefly chatted to a couple of people. However, she saved most of her energy for when she saw the tell tale black and red haired students she knew to be her lifeline. Rose ran up to Albus and immediately hugged him, almost knocking him over.

"Miss me Rosie Posey?" Albus chuckled as he righted himself. Rose simply beamed at him as she went to embrace her brother.

"Yeah, calm down Rose." He stated as Rose embraced him tightly. Hugo lightly patted her on the back, slightly uncomfortable at the public display of affection and then let out a sigh of relief when Rose went to attack Lily.

"Rosie I'm so sorry you missed out on the family Easter." Lily said kindly as she hugged her older cousin back just as forcefully.

"Oh that's okay, there are plenty more to come right? And it wasn't so bad here."

Lily looked at her sceptically. Lily knew that Rose was fiercely family oriented and that having to stay at Hogwarts would have been extremely difficult for her.

"Are you sure?"

Rose beamed at her.

"Like I said, it wasn't so bad. But I'm so glad that you're all back!" Rose hugged Lily once again and jumped up and down slightly. Lily simply laughed and went with the flow. She was used to Rose being excitable and today was no exception. Rose linked arms with Lily and Albus as they made their way to the seemingly horseless carriages that were waiting at the entrance to the station. As they somehow made it onto one of the carriages with Rose still linking arms with her two favourite cousins, Albus began telling the tales of the Weasley-Potter Easter celebrations.

"Did you get your Easter package Rosie? We all made sure to include something you'd like. Poor old Barnaby could hardly carry the package out the window, let alone all the way to Hogwarts!"

Rose laughed. Barnaby was the offspring of her father's old owl Pigwideon. Unfortunately he was cursed with the same slight build and fickleness of his own father.

"With how many eggs and blocks of chocolate I got, I'm not surprised! You know, half of the eggs are gone already."

"Of course _you_ couldn't leave that much chocolate untouched. Actually, you may have a rival with your chocolate stuffing ability. You know how Victoire normally stays away from chocolately goodness? Well, I've never seen someone stuff so many chocolates in her mouth at any one time! It was hilarious, poor Teddy had to keep her away from his own eggs cause she started finding where he stashed them."

"No, you're forgetting the funniest part where she started to sneak the small eggs from the kids after the Easter egg hunt!" Lily interrupted.

"Oh yeah, that was pretty hilarious. Even funnier when she tried to deny it and then all those chocolates fell out from her coat pocket! Anyway, that wasn't even the best bit-"

"Hang on, how about when Uncle George tested out his new product?"

"Rosie, you wouldn't believe it! Uncle George came up with these great eggs that look and taste like proper chocolate but have the smell of rotten eggs when you take them out of the wrapper! Poor Grandpa Weasley didn't know what hit him when he opened his, and no-one knew about the trick eggs so we all thought he'd dropped his guts or something!"

Rose was listening to the exchange with a sad smile on her face. She really wished she could have gone home for the holidays. She felt as thought she had missed out on so much as Albus and Lily kept interrupting one another with hilarious and heartfelt stories of their two weeks away. Neither had realised that Rose hadn't said anything as they continued to bombard her with stories of their celebrations. Rose started listening in again as she heard Albus and Lily raising their voices to one another.

"That is _not_ how it happened Albus!"

"Oh please Lils, enlighten me on every detail you would have described that I may not have mentioned."

"Well firstly, it was on the second night at _dinner_ time not _lunch_ time-"

"Why the hell does that matter?"

"Because a shit load of significant events happened which led up to Victoire announcing it you tosser!"

"Tell me again, does Mum know you talk that way or is she still blinded to her only daughter being a fouled mouthed-"

"Stop playing the tragic 'middle child syndrome' card and shut up Al!"

"Merlin you're a pain in the arse Lils, just-"

"Guys can you _both_ stop baiting each other and finish the story. What happened with Victoire?"

Albus was about to open his mouth to continue his original story, but Lily glared at him. Albus glared straight back but ended up telling the story anyway.

"Well on the _second_ night at _dinner_ time," he looked toward Lily yet again who looked smug, "Victoire and Teddy got up and announced that, wait for it, Victoire is pregnant!"

There was a beat as Rose took in this information. She was immediately excited for her cousin, but also felt a jolt of jealousy and sadness at not being there to celebrate with the rest of her family. She also couldn't believe that no one had owled her to tell her the news. She felt forgotten.

"Oh that's fantastic!" she said in an upbeat tone.

"It did explain why she had a sudden penchant for all that chocolate!" Lily replied happily but noticed that Rose was lacking in her usual excitement that would accompany such news.

"But don't worry Rosie, it wasn't that huge of an occasion. And Victoire is holding a baby shower soon to really celebrate with the _whole_ family. I promise you didn't miss out on much."

"Didn't miss out on much? Are you crazy Lils, are you forgetting-"

"No, I'm not forgetting anything Albus." Lily said angrily as she looked pointedly at him. Albus looked perplexed but knew not to push his sister when she had _that_ look on her face. She reminded him scarily of his mum sometimes.

"Anyway, tell me how you spent your time Rosie!"

Rose was thankful for the change in topic.

"Oh well, I spent a lot of time by myself in the dorms. There was only two other Gryffindor's left here and they were first years so I just occupied myself."

"You, Rose Weasley, occupied yourself?" Albus asked in disbelief. Rose felt mildly irritated.

"Yes, you got a problem with that Albus _Pot_ ter?" she said, emphasising the first syllable of his last name as she knew it irritated him.

"I suppose not, carry on."

"Thank you. As I said, I had to occupy myself at night time as there was no-one else in the common room, but I did manage to make a new friend."

"There's actually someone in this school who you _haven't_ become friends with already?" Lily asked in mock ridicule.

"Okay, if you don't want to know who it is I've recently become chummy with then you'll just have to be left in the dark," Rose replied, starting to feel more like herself now.

"Hey, I thought I was the mushroom!" Albus added. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"Ignore him Rosie, and tell me who you met! Is it a boy?"

"Yes actually it's-"

"Is he in your year? No, hang on, you pretty much know everyone in your year already. Is he is in my year? A younger man perhaps, you cougar you?"

"No Lils, he's in my year. I got to know Scor-"

"But who could it be? You honestly know pretty much everyone in your year.'

"Well if you-"

"Oh is it-"

"IF YOU LET ME FINISH!" Lily finally stopped guessing and looked at Rose.

"Thank you. I meant to say that if you let me finish, you would have realised that I was _going_ to actually tell you about five minutes ago." Rose paused, knowing that Lily would be irritated with her for not continuing.

"Well?"

"Scorpius Malfoy." Rose said simply. Lily looked at her incredulously while Albus scoffed.

"You have got to be kidding me Rosie. Malfoy? I mean, _Mal_ foy?"

"Are you serious Rosie?" Lily added to Albus' disgust.

"Yeah, why, what's the matter with that?"

"Well for one thing, he doesn't talk and another thing he-"

"He always last names me!"

"I really don't think that's such an issue Al," Lily scorned.

"Not much of an issue? The guy's an arse!"

"Actually he's not as big of an arse as you think Al, and the only reason he says your name that way is – " Rose stopped in her defence of Scorpius and thought about the look on his face any time they talked about his stutter.

"Well, it doesn't mean what you think it means Al. You just read too much into it."

"Like hell I do," Albus mumbled. Rose smiled and rolled her eyes. Lily looked at her pointedly.

"Are you being serious? I mean, did you really get to know the Slytherin Enigma?"

"I don't think he really likes that title Lils, so you could at least stop calling him that. But yeah, I got to hang out with him quite a bit. I mean, he _was_ a bit rude at the start but after a while we got to talking and he's alright. Surprisingly funny too!"

"What do you mean he was rude at the start?" Lily asked.

"Well, he was the only person left who was my age so I would sit with him at breakfast time. He didn't say much to me for about four days and tried to get rid of me a few times. Inadvertently I think."

"Hang on, why did he want to get rid of you? You were only sitting with him at breakfast right?"

Rose looked a little sheepish.

"You never give up do you?"

* * *

It had been two weeks since the start of term and Rose hadn't had the chance to talk to Scorpius once. Rose had made sure to go around to all her friends and acquaintances to catch up on how their holidays had been. She had spent countless meals at the other house tables, continuing her usual social style and flitting between different groups of friends. At the start of the second week, Rose was planning to complete her usual ritual of joining a different group of people for lunch and decided it was time to catch up with Scorpius to see how his start of term had gone. She didn't feel guilty for not making the effort to seek him out as one: she always made sure to get around to all of the people she knew at some stage or another, and two: he had been the one she had spent the most time with over the holidays and therefore had less to 'catch up' on. As she headed over to the Slytherin table, she noticed the absence of the tall blonde and quickly scanned the room. A familiar figure seemed to be making their way quickly out of the entrance. Rose continued on her path toward the Slytherin table and sat beside one of her fellow seventh years.

"Hey Marcos!" she greeted as she sat down.

"Rosie, haven't seen you in our parts for a while. What've you been up to?"

It was true to Rose's style that she also had many friends in Gryffindor's rival house.

"Oh you know, class work, home work and the occasional return to civilisation to catch up with fellow human beings."

"Well I hope you're not classing me as a fellow human being, for I am, as you know, a God."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"In that case, I'll be nice and let you still believe your own delusions. Hey you don't know where Scorpius took off to do you?"

Marcos looked at Rose with a raised eyebrow.

"Mr. Silent and Brooding? No, can't say I noticed where he went, and he sure as hell didn't _tell_ me where he went. Why?"

Rose decided to let Marcos' mildly snide remarks go by the wayside. Many people had that reaction to Scorpius she had noticed.

"Oh no reason, I just wanted to ask him something."

"Well good luck with that. If it helps, he went out the hall entrance." Marcos said smugly. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"Clearly you are an all knowing God, for how could us mere mortals figure out that one would leave via the only exit to the room?"

"I told you I'm not just a simple human being."

"I agree, you're more of a twat."

"I resent that comment."

"You would!"

"So are you going stay here and pick holes in my personal characterisation or are you going to grab a plate and eat?"

"I still need to find Scorpius. I'll steal one of your bread rolls though!" She said and quickly snatched a freshly buttered roll from Marcos' plate.

"Hey!"

"You want to be unhelpful, I steal your food!" Rose took a bite out of the roll and then quickly stole a roast potato also. "I'll come and visit for tea. Save me a seat?"

"Only if you promise to get your own food and not steal mine."

"Deal!" Rose said and quickly sauntered out of the Great Hall in search of Scorpius.

Rose looked in all the usual places that she would go with Scorpius but still couldn't find him. She realised the major flaw in her plan when she thought about how she had always followed Scorpius straight from the Slytherin table to where he was going, and not once had he gone to the same place. Never one to give up, she decided to search inside the castle. She checked the dungeon corridors thinking that he might have been heading back to his common room. She checked in some of the classrooms she passed and even in the kitchens. Finally she decided to check in the library. As she entered through the library doors, Rose noticed a tall figure scanning some of the utmost shelves. She was about to make a beeline for the boy when she felt a tap on the shoulder. It was Matilde Marsh from Ravenclaw.

"Rosie! I haven't seen you since the term started, how are you?" she asked.

"Oh hey Mattie, yeah I'm good. Did you enjoy your Easter?"

As Mattie starting filling her in about her holiday, Rose noticed Scorpius look in her direction. He held a book in one hand and quickly looked toward it when he noticed Rose catch his eye. He looked around the ground for a moment as if not sure what to do, then took the book up to the front of the library and placed it on the counter. Not waiting to borrow the book, he quickly slung his bag over his shoulder and left via the exit door. Rose was only half listening to Mattie as she tried to figure out what had just happened with Scorpius.

"So I hear you had to stay here over the holidays? How did that go?"

Rose shook her head and then gave her full attention to Mattie. She didn't see Scorpius for the rest of the day.

* * *

On Saturday night, Rose knew that the Ravenclaws would be celebrating their Quidditch win over Hufflepuff. In fact, she had been invited to join the festivities in the Ravenclaw common room by a number of people. She went for about an hour and socialised while enjoying a glass of butterbeer or two, but decided at 10pm that she would rather head back to her own common room and hang out with some less intoxicated people. She realised that she hadn't had much at dinner time so decided on a trip to the kitchens. True to her style, Rose ended up taking much longer to travel to the kitchens than any other person, and once she tickled the pear to gain access to the house elves' domain, she ended up staying much longer than intended. She helped herself to apple crumble and hot chocolate whilst talking to each of the elves about their own holidays. Rose's mum had been a huge influence on the Rights for Magical Creatures movement, so much so that she had made a whole career out of it. One of her major projects had been the rights of magical creatures to receive payment for their services, including holiday periods. It had taken years to change their own mindset, but in the current day, many house elves were now comfortable accepting a wage and holiday benefits. Rose talked to the elves about where they had been and what they had gotten up to, and before she knew it, her watch read that it was past 12 midnight. Knowing that it would be very difficult to sneak back to the Gryffindor common room at this time of night on a Saturday, Rose bid the elves farewell and began planning the safest route back to the common room.

Rose hid behind suits of armour or tapestries when she heard the slightest of noises and knew when to not stay in the one place for too long. Despite being quite the model student, Rose was not a prefect and had meandered the halls late at night numerous times. Lily had a theory that Rose wasn't a prefect because she was too nice to everyone, and therefore if she caught anyone out after hours, she would most likely give them advice on the best places to stay hidden rather than taking off house points. Rose passed the corridor which housed the Ravenclaw common room entrance and continued her way towards her own common room.

Rose was walking in a rather empty corridor (empty in the fact that there was very little to hide behind in the likelihood of being caught) when she heard slow footsteps. She had to think quickly: running away would make her own footsteps known immediately, yet staying where she was would only allow her to get caught as there was nowhere to hide. Hoping beyond all hope that the person around the corner would not turn her way, she stayed where she was, but quietly backed herself up against a wall so she was partly covered by shadows. Bad decision, the footsteps seemed to be coming her way, and the way the person was walking sounded as thought they were dragging their feet. The whole situation was a little eerie to Rose and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Her mind immediately went to her parent's stories of the war and although she knew she was probably just being paranoid, she quietly grabbed hold of her wand. She saw the shadow of the anonymous person grow longer as they reached the corner, and eventually the solid outline of a person could be seen. They continued to move slowly, possibly even slower than before. Rose performed a non-verbal charm to enhance her hearing, trying to gauge exactly what was happening and to help her make any split second decisions. With her now enhanced hearing, she could swear she heard shallow, laboured breathing and something that sounded like a very slow, dripping tap. Rose paled. Either this person had a terrible nose drip, or they were losing blood. The person finally came into closer view and Rose decided she needed to take action. As slowly as the person now making their way down her corridor, Rose pushed herself off the stone wall and into the open space. She stood in a manner of defiance that she didn't quite believe herself, and raised her wand without saying a word. The figure continued to walk towards her in that eerie shuffle. As the figure stepped into a slightly brightened patch of stone which was reflected in the moonlight, Rose gasped.

"Scorpius?" she whispered, not really understanding what was coming out of her mouth. Scorpius stopped his shuffling movements and looked towards the source of the whisper. His wand arm held loosely by his side and Rose noticed that there was a massive gash on his forearm which was trailing blood down his wrist, to his fingers and then dripping on the stone floor. Scorpius' eyes appeared dead as he stared at Rose. Rose kept her guard by raising her wand but rushed over to Scorpius.

"Scorpius, are you okay? What happened?" she whispered urgently and raised his bleeding arm to stop the terrible dripping noise. She had forgotten that the hearing charm was still in effect. He hadn't answered her, just merely looked at her blankly as she held his arm up.

"Scorpius, what happened, who did this?" She asked more urgently. He still didn't answer.

"We have to get you to the hospital wing, right now! I'll take you there and then get Headmaster McGonnagal!"

"No!" Scorpius' voice was very stern but clear.

"Scorp, you're bleeding and, and something's happened to you! You have to get medical attention! You have to tell me what happened!"

"No hospital w-wing!"

"No hospital wing? Are you kidding me, look how much you're bleeding! Come on, I'm taking you there right now!" Rose's voice was also becoming stern now. Scorpius suddenly looked panicked.

"I c-can't go there, pl-p-please don't t-take m-me there. I'll be be fine, just don't take m-me there." He said the last part of the sentence rather weakly and then swayed on the spot. Although Rose was tall for a girl, her height was no match for Scorpius' as he almost toppled over. She somehow kept him upright and tried to think clearly.

"How about Professor McGonnagal? Can I take you to see her, can she help?"

"No! No-one c-can know. P-please Rose." He looked at her pleadingly. Rose felt like she was about to fall apart. This was the sort of thing her parents had to deal with when they were at Hogwarts, this shouldn't happen in her time.

"Um right, okay. Okay, we've got some basic medical supplies in the common room, but I don't know what happened to you so I don't know if they will help, oh God, Scorpius you have to tell me what happened!"

Scorpius nodded but leaned on Rose at the same time to prompt her to help him walk.

"Cur-cursed." Was all he said. Rose almost shouted in frustration.

"Well yes I can see that! How, why?"

Scorpius didn't answer, he just kept on walking.

Eventually they made it to the portrait hole. Luckily the fat lady was still sleeping so when Rose said the password, she barely opened her eye to see what was going on. Rose manoeuvred Scorpius thought the portrait hole and hoped beyond all hope that no-one was still in the common room at almost one in the morning. Rose quickly shuffled Scorpius towards the couch, conscious of the fact that he had probably lost quite a lot of blood by this point. She looked over his body and saw that he was even paler than usual, if that were possible for a Malfoy. Rose muttered a few reassuring words and went to a cupboard in the room and looked for the medical supplies. She found the white box with ease but it was with shaking hands that she took it back to Scorpius on the couch. He was beginning to half close his eyes and started to slump to the side.

"Oh no, please don't, Scorpius wake up, wake UP!" she said as she pushed him upright and lightly slapped his cheek to ensure he was alert yet again. She looked down at his arm and gasped yet again at all the blood that continued to ooze from the wound.

"What the hell have you done to yourself Scorpius?" she muttered as she found some gauze to put pressure on the wound. In states of panic, Rose often went to muggle remedies before trying to think of what spells and potions to use. It was natural for her own cuts and bruises to be tended to by her muggle grandparents so she was used to the usual bandages and bandaids and Stingoes. As Rose continued to rifle through the medical kit she cursed her ability to think like a muggle in times like these.

"Fuck, I could have stopped the bleeding in the corridor with a fucking blood clotting spell or a skin stitching charm. Damnit!" As she muttered this she finally thought of the right incantations to clot the blood but couldn't remember how to close the wound. She heard Scorpius let out a slight sigh as the feeling of loosing blood must have lessened slightly. Before thinking to clean the wound, Rose wracked her brain to think of a blood replenishing spell or potion. She looked through the medical kit and found a small book consisting of the basic spells and incantations for such events. She quickly skimmed through the contents to find the pages relating to blood clotting and replenishing and turned the pages wildly. Luckily, Scorpius' breathing had become less laboured and he seemed to be coping marginally better than a minute before.

Rose skimmed the information and found some text saying that the medical kit came with a small vial of blood replenishing potion. Hoping and praying that this potion had not yet been used by another student, Rose rifled through the small vials that lined the inside of the white box. She found the correct potion, then read and re-read the instructions, not wanting to get anything wrong. Finally satisfied, Rose broke the wax seal on the bottle and lifted it to Scorpius' lips.

"Here, drink this. It should make up for some of the blood you've lost, but I'm not sure how much because I don't know how much you have lost or exactly how you lost it and, oh I just hope this works!" She rambled and used her shaking hands to tip the bottle up and empty the contents into Scorpius' mouth.

Scorpius coughed and spluttered as the metallic liquid slid down his throat. Rose sat there watching his every move, looking for a sign that he was now okay. It took her 10 minutes to be satisfied that the potion had worked. Scorpius' breathing was now at a normal rate and his cheeks had regained some colour. She noticed that her hands weren't shaking as much as before, so went through the medical kit once more and found some extra gauze, saline solution and murtlap essence.

Scorpius sat with his head tilted backwards, resting on the back of the couch as Rose gingerly took his injured arm.

"Do you know if you are hurt anywhere else?" She asked, forcing her voice to be calm.

"I do-don't know." Scorpius said.

"Well if you aren't hurting anywhere really badly, or aren't bleeding anywhere else, then I'll clean up your arm first and then we can have a look for any more wounds."

Scorpius simply nodded. Rose began to clean his hands first, using the gauze and saline solution. Each time she rinsed the gauze out, she couldn't believe just how much blood had come out of the one wound. She gently cleaned up his wrist toward the actual wound, not once thinking to use magic to help. She paused as she finally got to the large gash. Changing the gauze, she took a deep breath the steady herself and began to clean the wound. There was no more blood coming from the wound but it still looked very fresh and tender. As Rose continued to clean, she realised that it was not just the one gash, but several small, deep gashes that after a while seemed to be too uniform to call a gash. The further she worked up, the tender the wound seemed to be as Scorpius was flinching much more than before. Rose began to shake again as she started to see the cuts form a pattern, or picture rather.

"Scorpius?" Rose said weakly as the wound was now fully clean, the red marks glistening with the clotted blood. Scorpius lifted his head to look at Rose's scared expression. He couldn't bear what he saw in her eyes so looked down at his wound.

"What's going on?" Rose asked, her voice quiet and shaking. She still held his arm near the elbow, while the cuts forming a picture of a skull with a snake protruding through its mouth stared up at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much to those who read and left kudos on this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next chapter coming up soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rose stared at Scorpius while his downcast eyes roved the lines of his injury. Rose was beginning to hold on to his elbow with a little more force than necessary.

"Scorpius, what's going on?" she said again, sounding much more forceful than previously. Scorpius' eyes remained downcast but Rose thought she could see him shake his head ever so slightly. His whole body seemed to lose its tension, as if in defeat.

"Don't you go all silent on me now. You have a dark mark carved into your arm for Christ's sake! What am I supposed to think?"

Rose had never lost her temper this badly before. Then again, her idea of someone had never changed this suddenly before. Scorpius shook his head again.

"It's n-not a dark mar-k," he said weakly, still not meeting her eyes.

"Excuse me? I think we all know what a dark mark looks like. Skull. Snake. Symbol of death, prejudice and destruction!"

Scorpius finally found the courage to look up at her. His eyes had glassed over with what appeared to be tears and his voice was more dysfluent than usual.

"If-f you kn-no-know what a d-dark mmark looks like then-n you'd know that it's a br-b-brand, not not a cut or a sc-ar. An-nd I think I w-would know that even m-more than you."

His voice was pained as he said this and his hands began shaking again. Rose knew that Scorpius' family were involved with Voldemort and that his own father and grandfather were death eaters, but that was where her knowledge ended. She tried to calm herself, not even realising that in this whole time, she had not let Scorpius' elbow go. The mark still glistened up at them.

"Let's say you do know more about the dark mark than I do. If this isn't the dark mark, what the hell is it?"

Scorpius looked away from her yet again and used his free arm to press his hand against his forehead.

"Look, I'm just about thinking the worst right now - you didn't let me take you to the infirmary or to the Headmistress, you have a suspicious mark on your arm which, whether you admit it or not looks exactly like a dark mark! I'm asking you, almost begging you to tell me what's happening and prove me wrong."

Rose heard a sniff and what sounded suspiciously like a sob coming from the boy in front of her. Despite the circumstances, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him for just a moment. As he sniffed again and lowered the heel of his palm to both of his eyes, he finally spoke.

"I c-can't." His voice was so quiet that if Rose still wasn't under the effects of the super-sensory charm, she wouldn't have heard him. Her grip eased slightly on his arm, and it was her turn to speak quietly.

"Did you do this to yourself?"

Scorpius' head shot up in one fluid movement and he almost yanked his arm out of her grasp.

"N-no! Wh-why would I d-d-do this to myself?"

"I don't know, I just thought that maybe you wanted to have a dark mark so you could 'join the club' so to speak."

Scorpius looked scared as she said this. She noticed.

"But I believe you."

Scorpius simply nodded.

"But if you didn't do this, then what happened? Who did do this to you?"

There was a pause.

"I can't s-say."

"Why not? If someone did this to you, you need-"

"B-be-believe me Rose, just pl-lease trust me. I c-can't tell you. It'd b-be worse if-f I did."

He had done it. He said the two words that Rose was innately wired to follow. If he hadn't of said them, she possibly could have remained sceptical and thought that he was involved in some shady post war renegade group, or was part of some strange Malfoy initiation ceremony. But she couldn't think that now. Trust me.

"Okay." She looked at him for a few moments longer and then reached for the dittany bottle. Wordlessly she applied the dittany to his wound and began searching for a bandage.

Once she had finished dressing his wound, she let go of his arm for the first time since accompanying him on the couch.

"Um, I could get you some blankets. You could stay on the couch for tonight."

Scorpius looked at her in disbelief.

"I d-don't think that would be a good idea."

Rose nodded.

"Maybe not." She paused, thinking of what needed to happen now.

"Just wait here, I'll be right back."

She didn't wait for Scorpius to respond and simply left the couch and made her way up to the boy's dormitories. She entered the room that was emblazoned with 'Seventh Years' and quietly opened the door. In the darkness she could only hear mild snores and see the dark outlines of four poster beds. Rose made her way over to the bed that she knew to be Albus' and promptly stubbed her toe against the metal trunk at the end of his bed.

"Ouch, fuck!" she whispered and hopped around on the spot, holding her foot. She had forgotten about trying not to wake up other people in the dormitory and as a result, she heard an overlarge snore from one of the beds and a quiet whisper from one of the occupants.

"Rose?" someone whispered. Rose turned her head slowly to the end of the room.

"Rose what are you doing?" the weary voice of Daniel Morphett spoke. Rose quickly went over to the bed and whispered back.

"I'm trying to steal something of Albus'. Promise you won't tell?"

"You're stealing something?" he asked blurrily.

"I'm going to bring it back. I just need to borrow something."

"Oh, okay then." He said and then turned back over. Sometimes being friendly with many people had its benefits; not many people questioned Rose's motives for things. Rose silently made her way over to Albus' trunk again, making sure not to run into it this time. She opened the lid and almost immediately found what she was looking for; the invisibility cloak. Her Uncle Harry had silently handed down the cloak to James in his fifth year. Rose suspected that he had not said anything to James about the use of the cloak simply because as a parent, he didn't want to know what his son would get up to with it, but as a former student, he wanted his children to have the same opportunities to misbehave that he did. Luckily for Rose, James had handed the cloak down to Albus in his last year, and Albus would hand it down to Lily at the end of the school year.

Rose gently pulled the cloak out and closed the lid of the trunk. Making sure not to run into anything else, Rose silently made her way out of the dormitory and back down to the common room. She reached Scorpius on the couch.

"Okay, I can take you back to your dorm now."

Scorpius simply turned and stared at Rose with a quizzical look on his face.

"I borrowed Albus' invisibility cloak. We should be able to make it to your common room without being seen. Obviously, because we'll be invisible."

Scorpius nodded.

They made their way through the castle awkwardly but silently and eventually made it to the Slytherin common room. While Scorpius could finally stand upright once they took off the cloak, they remained in an awkward silence as they waited at the entrance.

"Thanks Rose." Scorpius said with his head bowed.

"You're welcome. Make sure you take care of your arm." Rose turned and was about to put the cloak back on when she heard Scorpius speak again.

"Are y-you sure you'll b-b-be okay go-going back?"

Rose turned and smiled slightly.

"We weren't spotted on our way down, I'm sure I'll be fine on the way back. Thanks."

With that, she wrapped herself in the cloak and turned back the way she came.

Rose didn't sleep very well that night.

Rose spent the next day in the common room, drifting in and out of consciousness as she chatted to the various people who joined her on the couch.

"Rosie. Rose. ROSE!"

"Sorry, what?" Rose looked up and realised she must have fallen asleep while talking to her dorm-mates Maree and Charlene.

"We were asking you what you thought of Sean Martin."

"Oh. Well despite the fact that he was the one who aimed the bludger my way that made me miss out on Easter holidays, he's alright. Seems quite nice. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Just thinking I suppose." Charlene said absentmindedly. "Hey, what happened with you and Mitch?"

"Oh yeah, you two were a couple for ages and then suddenly, it just all ended. What did happen?" Maree asked. Rose was too tired to even blush as she thought of her relationship with Mitchell Williams.

"It was a mutual split." Rose said, hoping she wouldn't have to go into more detail.

"So nothing happened? He didn't cheat on you? You didn't argue?"

"Nope."

"Oh." Was all Charlene said, seemingly disappointed with the lack of gossip. "Well you look tired, we'll leave you alone now! See you later Rosie!"

Rose gratefully lay her head back down on the pillow, but then she felt the seat beside her move again.

"Rosie, in the land of the living I see! Have a rough night in the Ravenclaw common room last night?"

Rose looked towards her cousin and sighed.

"You could say that."

"Don't tell me you were drinking?"

"You know I don't like to drink Albus. Nah it was just a late night."

"Fair enough. So are you ready for our match against Hufflepuff next week?"

"Yeah I think so. They don't have too many strong players to be worried about. When's our next training session?"

"Tuesday."

"I'll make sure to be on time then!"

"You better! So, you seen much of Malfoy lately?"

"Um, a little bit. Why do you ask?" Rose asked cautiously. Albus was by no means dumb, and she was worried that he may have somehow figured out about the night before or had at least known she had borrowed his invisibility cloak.

"No reason. I just don't feel overly comfortable you being chummy with that pompous prat."

"You don't even know him Albus."

"And you do?" he challenged, then he sighed. "Look, it's just weird you becoming friends or whatever with him. Haven't your parents told you about his dad?"

"I know that Scorpius' family were death eaters Al. And you should be the last one to criticise someone on the basis of who their father is. Harry Potter ring a bell."

Albus sighed again.

"Yeah I know, I just – I mean you're right, his family were death eaters but that's not all."

Rose sat up, suddenly intrigued about what her cousin was telling her about.

"What do you mean?"

"Well his dad wasn't just a death eater, he was our parent's enemy at school."

Rose rolled her eyes. That information was hardly new. Although her parents hadn't explicitly stated that they didn't get along with Scorpius' dad at school, she had already guessed that much.

"I did figure that out Al."

"Yeah well did they tell you that Draco Malfoy was the one ordered to kill Dumbledore?"

Rose stared at him.

"Scorpius' dad was ordered to kill Dumbledore? But I thought Dumbledore asked Severus Snape to kill him. Something about the greater good?"

"Well he did, but that was only because Dumbledore didn't want a teenage boy to become a killer. Dad only told me the important parts of the story, but my bet is that Draco Malfoy would have done it had he been given the chance. I mean, he was under orders from Voldemort, and he's still alive today so clearly he gave the task a good old shot, otherwise he surely wouldn't still exist."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked. She shuddered. The thought of Scorpius being abused by his father was becoming quite a possibility with this new information.

"Sure as I know that James is a douche."

"You must be pretty sure then."

Albus nodded.

"So, why did your dad tell you this?" Albus reddened a little and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You remember in second year when that article was printed in the prophet about me?"

"Yeah." Rose did remember. Albus had suffered for months on end over that article. A group of students that used to practically worship the ground Albus walked on became extremely jealous and decided that they would make him suffer for simply being Harry Potter's look-a-like son. They had taken to teasing and bullying him, and a particular target was his name.

"Well I went home and was quite rightly a little upset. But I ended up having a go at dad about why he called me such a stupid name as Albus Severus. Quite frankly I was being a brat about it, so dad sat me down and told me the story of Dumbledore and Severus Snape, which of course led to him explaining about how Dumbledore died and what a noble thing Severus did for the Order of the Phoenix. James and Lily don't know, which is probably why Lily is excited that you're friends with Malfoy."

"Hang on, so if Draco Malfoy was a death eater and was ordered to kill Dumbledore, how come he didn't go to Azkaban?"

"I don't know. Money?"

"Well they would certainly have enough of that."

"Yeah, even after the war."

Rose stared off into space, trying to figure out if the information she had just received would make Scorpius' father a likely candidate for the wounds that were inflicted on him. Surely an ex student of Hogwarts would be able to find their way into the castle easily enough. Rose knew there was more than one secret passageway in and out of the castle. Maybe Draco Malfoy had payed off the Ministry after the war. Maybe he had wanted his son to be just like him. But Scorpius wasn't just like him. Scorpius didn't seem to have any obvious prejudices against minority groups, although the fact that he didn't have many (if any) friends didn't look too good. Scorpius being in Slytherin didn't seem to fit too well either. Maybe his father had somehow hoodwinked the sorting hat or paid off someone at Hogwarts to ensure his son continued the Malfoy tradition. Rose's mind kept ticking over. It didn't seem too far fetched that Scorpius' father was disappointed with his views and had warned him by carving a dark mark into his arm. Rose felt instantly repulsed by these thoughts but couldn't help think that they fitted so well. Why else would Scorpius not want to go to the hospital wing or tell the headmistress? Scorpius probably knew as well as Rose that any suspicious injuries caused to students were immediately referred to a ministry case worker. Rose thought about the first day that she had actually had a conversation with Scorpius and couldn't believe that anyone could hurt the boy that way. Still thinking of the same day, Rose gasped.

"Albus, every time we walked past that part of the lake where Dumbledore's tomb is, Scorpius would always direct us away from the water!"

"Ugh, I don't really want to know what you and that boy get up to Rosie. And why is that significant?'

"You said that his dad was ordered to kill Dumbledore. Scorpius mustn't be able to stand the connection with his family's past, that's why he can't go right up to Dumbledore's grave!"

"So you're saying he's not like his family then, just because he avoids a grave?"

Rose nodded. Albus simply stared at her.

"Sorry Rosie but I'm gonna need more evidence than that before I let the guy off the hook."

"Well I'm sorry but I'm not going to stop being friends with him just because you don't like him."

Albus nodded solemnly.

"Okay, I understand that. But just remember that stuff I told you."

"I will. Thanks Al."

"You're welcome Rosie." Albus replied and quickly hugged his cousin. He ruffled Rose's hair and then stood up.

"Now go back to sleep, you look like shit."

Rose lashed her leg out to connect with Albus. He laughed and then walked away.

While her thoughts continued to concern her for an entire week, Rose made sure not to let anyone realise that something was bothering her. She continued to flit around to all of her friends and made sure not to spend more than two meals per day at the one house table. Rose had circulated the Slytherin table many times during that week but as soon as she made her presence known, Scorpius would immediately leave the table. Rose figured this was normal for someone who was being abused by his own father but after the fifth time this happened, she was starting to get a little bit annoyed with the Slytherin boy. On a couple of occasions, Rose had deliberately wanted to join the Slytherins in order to talk to Scorpius, but he had not allowed her to even make eye contact with him. It was the same in the lessons they shared and any time that they were in the same room. Scorpius would avert his eyes and make for the quickest exit. One thing Rose had noticed was that Scorpius had made sure to wear long sleeves. Instead of rolling up his shirt sleeves in the warmer weather like the other boys had been doing, Scorpius had ensured that each day his cuffs remained tight around his wrists. Each time Rose noticed this, her thoughts were immediately drawn to his bandage covered arm.

By the following Monday, Rose had had enough of the avoidance routine and decided to confront Scorpius. As all the seventh years completed their own elective NEWTS subjects, their classes were no longer arranged by house. Each class was typically made up of a range of students from each of the four houses. As a result, Rose shared a few classes with Scorpius and she knew that they would share the final lesson of the day on the Monday. Rose made her way from the Herbology greenhouses and into the castle. As predicted, the students from her Herbology class all divided once they entered the castle, with only a couple of people heading Rose's way. Rose's group met up with various other people as they walked throughout the castle and one of the last people to join them was none other than Scorpius Malfoy. Rose made a quick apology to the boys she was talking to and began to slow her walk down. When she was almost to the back of the group she deliberately dropped a book and a quill, knowing that Scorpius would be the only person at the back of the group and therefore obliged to help her. Predictably, Scorpius bent down to help Rose as she fussed about on the floor, although he did not make eye contact with her. As the other students continued walking and Rose finally righted herself with quill and books in hand, she stole a quick glance at their class and then dragged Scorpius by the elbow into the nearest classroom. Luckily the classroom was empty. She closed the door and smiled slightly at Scorpius in greeting. He simply stared at her.

"Hey! So how have you been going?"

Scorpius' gaze remained on the ground. He shrugged.

"I've been trying to catch up with you at mealtimes but you seem to eat pretty quickly these days." She continued, becoming a little nervous now. Rose saw him smirk slightly. She waited for him to say something but his eyes continued to stare at the ground. She gave him exactly two minutes before she kept talking.

"Oh please don't go all silent on me again. Why have you been avoiding me?"

He looked up.

"I ha-havent."

"Yes you have. If I even look in your direction you bolt the opposite way."

"I've b-been trying t-to avoid everyone, n-not just you."

"Okay, but why have you been avoiding me?"

Scorpius sighed.

"I d-didn't think that y-you would w-w-want to be seen with me."

Rose had a distant thought that maybe Albus had somehow gotten to Scorpius and had warned him away.

"Why would I not want to be seen with you?"

Scorpius shrugged and unconsciously rubbed his forearm where Rose knew his bandage to be. She didn't bother getting irked with him as a wave of concern shot through her.

"How's your arm?"

Scorpius nodded and eventually spoke.

"It's okay. I keep putting the d-dittany on it l-like you said. It seems t-to be working we-well."

"Oh good. Can I have a look?" Scorpius nodded yet again and started un buttoning his cuff.

"You must be getting pretty warm in your long sleeves." Rose joked lightly but Scorpius didn't respond. He rolled his sleeve up to reveal the white bandage.

"Do you mind?" Rose asked as she motioned to unravel the bandage. Scorpius shook his head. Rose completely unwrapped the bandage and looked at the almost fully healed wound. She knew that dittany was excellent for open wounds but due to her limited healing knowledge, she had not had the skills to help Scorpius avoid receiving a nasty scar. She looked at the pink flesh that was now raised and dented in places in an ugly scar. Unfortunately you could easily see the pattern that the scar had imprinted on Scorpius' arm.

"I'm so sorry, I should have thought about scarring. I could look up something to fade it maybe."

"Th-that's okay. It's not your fault."

Rose wanted to say 'No it't your father's fault' but she kept her mouth shut. Instead she went down a different path.

"Did you want to talk about what happened?"

"N-no. But thanks."

There was silence as Rose wrapped the bandage back around the wound and Scorpius rolled down his shirt sleeve and fastened the cuff. Rose stared at Scorpius for a moment and then closed the gap between them to bring him into a hug. Scorpius seemed shocked for a moment but eventually responded by returning the gesture lightly. Rose squeezed him slightly and then pulled away. She made sure that he was looking directly at her before she addressed him.

"Don't ever think that I wouldn't want to be seen with you. I like to think that we're friends, and friends aren't embarrassed to be seen together. And I know you haven't told me what is going on but I feel that you could really use a friend right now."

Scorpius stared back at her.

"So anyway, how about I join your table tonight and you don't run away this time?"

Scorpius actually smiled and let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, okay."  
"Good. Now lets get to class, we're already late!"

True to her word, Rose joined Scorpius at the Slytherin table that night. True to his word, Scorpius didn't run away, although he had headed down to the Great Hall earlier than most of the other students. Rose sat down across from him as they had done over the holidays and began piling her plate up with food. As there wasn't many students in the hall at this time, Scorpius felt much more comfortable talking to her than he would be if the table was very crowded. After all, no one was there to hear him stutter.

"So are you going to Hogsmeade next weekend?" Rose asked, spooning mashed potato onto her plate.

"Yeah I am. Wh-who are you g-going with?" he asked conversationally, not seeing Rose pause halfway though dishing up her meal. She quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts and answered him.

"I promised Lily that I would go with her. She said that I've been spending too much time with other people and that we haven't caught up properly for ages. She also promised that she would buy me a coffee, so I was easily swayed."

"F-fair enough."

"So, who are you going with then?' Rose asked Scorpius, genuinely interested. Scorpius did his usual head bow and eyes to the floor routine.

"N-no one."

"You look a little bashful there Scorp, you're not meeting a girl there are you?" Rose smirked at him. Scorpius let out what could have been a bitter laugh.

"Rose, I c-can b-barely talk to to you. I sure as hell am n-not going with a g-girl."

"Hey, I resent that! I'm a girl!"

"Yeah bu-but you're n-not normal."

Rose flicked a pea at him.

"Like you can talk! Well you're welcome to join us not normal people for a coffee or butterbeer you are most welcome."

"Thanks b-but I c-can't."

Rose looked at Scorpius suspiciously. She thought she had knocked some sense into him this afternoon and made him realise that she wasn't embarrassed to be seen with him. Why else would she be sitting and talking to him at dinner time?

"Oh, well if you change your mind you're welcome to join us."

Maybe there was another reason that Scorpius couldn't meet up with her, but Rose tried not to think about that at the moment. She was just glad that he wasn't sitting by himself like he usually did. Just as Rose was going to continue a new thread of discussion, she heard someone clear their voice behind her. She stopped what she was doing and then turned to see Sean Martin standing behind her.

"Ah hi Rosie. How's your head treating you?"

Rose smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well I think there has been some irreparable damage as I have been doing and saying some very strange things lately, but my close allies inform me that I have always been that way. I'm still trying to argue with them though."

Sean laughed and then eyed Scorpius briefly before answering. Rose noticed that Scorpius was staring at Sean from behind his glasses, but he quickly averted his gaze when Sean looked his way for the second time. Rose knew Scorpius was feeling uncomfortable with this situation. Rose looked back at Sean as he began talking again.

"Well I'm glad that you're going okay but I still wanted to make up for hitting you in the head by taking you to Hogsmeade this weekend."

Rose gave a genuine noise of disappointment and answered.

"Oh I'm sorry Sean, I promised Lily that I would go with her this weekend. Something about family bonding and whatnot."

"Oh, that's okay." Sean answered, looking a little disheartened.

"At the moment I'm not booked out for the next Hogsmeade weekend though. Did you want to do something together on the next visit?"

Sean's eyes instantly brightened at this offer.

"Yeah, yeah that would be good. I should have known you would have already had plans this weekend. Anyway, I'll see you around then."

"Yeah, see you Sean."

Sean gave Scorpius one more quick glance before turning away. Rose was about to turn back to her meal when she heard her name called again.

"Yeah?" she turned in response.

"Well, it's a long time until the next Hogsmeade weekend. How about you say we sit together in Arithmancy next week, you know, just to kick start the friendship?"

Rose made a point of exaggerating her 'thinking' face and then laughed.

"That sounds great. See you then." She said and finally turned to eat some more of her meal.

"So Scorp-"

"Rosie, what brings you to our part of the woods?" she heard as she also felt Marcos plonk himself down next to her. Rose stopped in her sentence to Scorpius and re-directed her gaze to the boy next to her.

"I think you might need you eyes checked Marcos, because we are no where near a wodded area."

Marcos paused in his mission to grab a plate and took an exaggerated look around the room, then nodded his head.

"Right you are Rosie. Clearly you simply cannot keep away from a certain person with a beautiful face!"

Rose laughed.

"For once my friend you are quite right, but unfortunately it is not your face I was after."

Marcos had a look of mock shock on his face.

"Not that your face isn't beautiful, but I was here to have dinner with Scorpius." She said and smiled in Scorpius' direction. Marcos hardly reacted to this news and nodded a greeting toward the blonde boy sitting across from Rose.

"Can I suggest that you enjoy the best of both worlds then? You know, me being of the dark Mediterranean type and Scorpius of the fair Nordic type? Not every girl here would have the pleasure of two such pretty faces!"

Rose snorted in laughter and elbowed the boy next to her.

"So subtle in your modesty you are." She said and shook her head. Rose smiled even more as the next words Marcos said were not directed at her.

"So Scorpius, you heading to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

There was a long pause as Scorpius seemed unsure whether he had been addressed or not. Rose was reminded of their first interactions in the hospital wing.

"Yeah." He finally said.

"Cool, a bunch of us are going to the three broomsticks in the afternoon if you wanted to join us."

Rose could see that Scorpius looked a little panicked at this and could almost see his brain ticking over as he debated whether or not to think of something to say and practise it first before talking, or live up to his snobby reputation and completely dismiss the invitation. Rose was a little disappointed as Scorpius appeared to be going with the latter.

"Unfortunately Scorpius already has plans in Hogsmeade. He didn't say what exactly but my guess is that he's meeting someone."

Marcos looked at Rose once again.

"Ah, and how did you, Miss Weasley come by this information?"

"Well I may have already offered for him to join Lily and I for coffee. I also may have been turned down."

"You? Turned down? Well that's just outrageous Rosie!"

"I know!" Rose added, pretending to be completely exasperated by the idea.

"One bit of advice I'll give you Scorpius, is that you never turn down a Weasley or Potter. Have you noticed how many of the damned things are in this school?"

Rose openly smiled as she saw a grin slowly forming on Scorpius' face. Although he didn't speak during the entire meal, that one smile felt as though a huge hurdle had been cleared.

Rose was almost glad that Lily had found a date at the last minute. It gave her the opportunity to spy on Scorpius. As much as she found her plans of stalking disturbing, she had been trying to find evidence of her initial views that Scorpius was a beautiful and kind person (if on the occasions that he wasn't pretending to be a pretentious snob) with just a few insecurities. Luckily for Rose and her newfound desire to stalk, Scorpius was naturally adept at avoiding people. This made it easier to follow him without being spotted by the many people who would want to talk to her. While the weather was beginning to warm up, Rose had wanted to disguise her readily recognisable hair and had worn her knitted white beanie. After the ride into Hogsmeade, Rose was almost regretting her decision to disguise herself somewhat. The sky was clear and the sun was beginning to beat down, rendering Rose's hat wearing somewhat of a nuisance.

She followed Scorpius in the carriage behind him and made sure to get out a short distance from where he did. She watched him walk in his usual fashion, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders and head lowered. It was a change seeing him without his glasses, but she reasoned that maybe he hadn't come into Hogsmeade to read. True to his form, Scorpius made sure to stay away from the most popular parts of Hogsmeade, making sure to tread in the opposite direction to the part of town that housed the most exciting places such as the Three Broomsticks, Zonko's and Honeydukes. Instead, Scorpius made his way to what was considered the 'new' part of the town. Following the war, more people had moved to the wizarding town and as a result there had been an influx of new buildings and businesses in the early 2000's. Some people said that the new part of town was fantastic and continued to bring business into Hogsmeade, but most of the students stayed away from these parts as it was mostly upmarket cafés, magic suppliers and jewellery stores. Scorpius appeared to be making his way to one of the cafes that had an al fresco dining area at the front and an enclosed café at the back. Rose watched Scorpius enter the café from a few shops down, thankful that no one she knew could see her as she was sure she looked as though she was creeping down the street rather than walking casually. International woman of mystery was clearly not going to be her occupation upon leaving Hogwarts. She saw Scorpius enter the café building and raced to the front of the shop. She made her way up the stairs and peeked through the window that looked into the main dining area. She saw Scorpius talking to the lady at the register. Rose rolled her eyes with the thought that Scorpius must have practised that sentence continuously on his way there. She saw him nod to the lady and turn back towards the entrance. Hat or no hat, Scorpius was going to recognise her. She quickly rushed down the stairs and ran headlong into someone tall and blonde. Rose's immediate thought was how on earth Scorpius could have gotten past her without her knowing. However, on closer inspection, she realised that while this person resembled Scorpius to a degree, it clearly wasn't him.

"You might want to watch where you are going in the future young lady." The man said gruffly as he patted down his shirt which was mildly creased from where she had run into him.

"Oh I'm, I'm so sorry sir. I was in a hurry." She said, placing a quick glance at the café door.

"Clearly." The man replied, still using his stiff tone.

"Draco, the girl has apologised."

"Look at my shirt though!"

"What's wrong with your shirt?"

"It's creased!"

"You've straightened it out, it's fine dear." The lady who appeared to be the man's wife now turned to Rose.

"Don't worry about him love, he's like this to everyone."

"I am sorry sir." Rose said again, still shocked from making the connection that she was standing in front of Draco Malfoy, the potential cause if not a contributor to Scorpius' insecurities and fears. Draco still had the same stern look on his face but his wife had a sterner look on her face that was directly aimed at him.

"That's alright." He managed to get out. His wife had a smug look on her face. Rose began to shake slightly in fear and anger. She wasn't sure what she should do in Draco's presence. Just as Rose was about to excuse herself, she heard a voice from behind her.

"M-mother, Father!"

"Hello sweetie, you're here early." Scorpius' mother replied as he went to hug her. He then turned to his father and shook his hand.

"Son," he greeted. Rose was certain that Draco wouldn't appreciate much more physical affection than a handshake in public. In fact, she was surprised that Scorpius had a huge smile on his face as he greeted his parents. She started to doubt her own theories. Surely he wouldn't look so happy to see the person who had tortured him. Rose had frozen still at her thoughts and hadn't bothered to run away as she had planned. Scorpius seemed to realise that there was someone standing next to him. Rose simply stood there, lost in her own thoughts.

"Rose?"

"What? Oh, um, yes?" she managed to get out as she looked up at Scorpius. Scorpius looked at her strangely and lifted up her beanie slightly so that he could see her properly.

"I th-thought you w-were meeting Lily today?"

Rose didn't miss the looks of shock on the faces of the people in front of her. For what reason though she could only guess.

"Oh um, well Lily actually got a date at the last minute so she bailed on me."

"So w-what brings you h-here then?" Scorpius asked conversationally. Rose hoped she could come up with a convincing lie.

"Well I saw you down the street and figured I would say hi. I didn't realise I would be running into your parents though."

"Quite literally!" Scorpius' mother offered with a smile. His father continued to look displeased. Rose couldn't help but feel uneasy in the man's presence so avoided eye contact with him.

"Your friend ran straight into your father here. Poor girl didn't stand a chance." Said Scorpius' mother. At the look on her son's face, she continued.

"Oh but don't worry dear, he was ever the gentleman, weren't you Draco?"

Draco gave a stiff nod to which Scorpius and his mother shared an amused glance at one another, apparently enjoying their own private joke. While Rose was getting the vibe that Scorpius' father was a somewhat unpleasant person, she was finding it harder to believe that the man standing in front of her who seemed to be under the thumb of his wife would ever do anything to hurt his only child. Her head spinning, Rose decided that maybe she needed to get away from the possibilities running through her head.

"Um it was, lovely, to meet you Mr and Mrs Malfoy, but I better be off."

"But I thought you said you had no plans and were wanting to converse with Scorpius?" the woman said.

"Oh, yes, I suppose that's true." Rose replied, quickly remembering her lie.

"Well we hardly ever get to meet Scorpius' friends, it has been such a pleasure to meet you. Would you care to join us for lunch?"

Scorpius nodded at Rose as if to agree with his mother's invitation. Rose was struck with how comfortable Scorpius seemed to be with his parents. It was almost as if he had always been a polite responsive person when in company, and not a shy, snobby boy who kept to himself. Somehow among her swimming thoughts, Rose thought that her stalking operation had revealed much more than intended. Feeling a little ashamed of herself, she blushed.

"I can't I'm sorry."

"W-why not?" Scorpius asked so quickly that Rose was certain he hadn't meant to let that slip out.

"I kind of forgot to bring money."

"Well I don't see how that is a problem, we will be happy to pay for you love. That is, unless Scorpius was planning to offer you lunch." Scorpius' mother gave him a stern look and he suddenly glanced towards the ground before addressing Rose.

"Of course. I can p-pay for you Rose."

"Thanks for the offer, but you don't have to do that."

"N-no I w-want to. You'd have t-to go back to the castle to get l-lunch anyway if you f-forgot your money."

Rose took in his sincere eyes and decided that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Besides, she could suss out Draco Malfoy a bit more.

"Okay then. Thank you."

"Wonderful, I'll go in and make sure we get our table then." Scorpius' mother said and flitted past them. Rose felt slightly uneasy now that the calming influence of Mrs. Malfoy was gone.

"Shall w-we go in?" Scorpius offered to Rose and his father, realising that no-one had followed his mother. They nodded and made their way up the stairs in a group. Halfway up, Draco addressed Rose.

"So, you must be Weasley's daughter then?" he said in his stern voice. Rose felt yet again, uneasy. She tried to sound light hearted.

"You might want to be more specific."

"Ron Weasley."

"Yes, he's my dad."

"Hm." Was all he said, and they walked silently into the café.

All Rose could think of was what she would find out about the Malfoy family during this luncheon. Surprisingly, she was almost scared to figure out that maybe Draco Malfoy wasn't what she thought, because if it hadn't been him who had hurt Scorpius, that meant that there was someone within Hogwarts who wanted to cause Scorpius harm. Trying not to think of her conversation with Albus, Rose entered the warm café. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for following this story! Huge thanks to those who have read, left kudos and bookmarked xo


	4. Chapter 4

Rose felt her palms becoming sweaty, and it was nothing to do with the uncharacteristic warmth for the time of year. She was glad that it was Scorpius that was sitting next to her as his presence seemed to have a calming effect. However this also meant that she had no where else to look but at the two adults sitting across from her. She had not registered any discomfort or fear from the boy next to her which added further weight to her sudden realisation that maybe, just maybe Scorpius' father was not the cause for his scar. Nonetheless, Rose still felt uneasy. Rose picked up the glass of water in front of her and took a shaky sip.

"So dear, how are you enjoying your last year at Hogwarts?"

Rose suspected that Mrs. Malfoy was addressing her son so was startled when she looked up to see pale blue eyes looking straight at her. She almost spat out the water in shock but settled for a half cough instead.

"Oh um, yeah it's been okay. It's getting down to the business end of the year now so pretty much all us seventh years are spending every extra moment in the library."

Rose thought she heard Mr. Malfoy say something along the lines of ' _I bet that's a huge change'_ but she couldn't be sure.

"So have you been studying with our Scorpius much then?"

Rose looked towards Scorpius as his mother said this. She couldn't decipher the look on his face.

"Um, no not really. We don't really study when we're together."

"I see. Did you hear that Draco? They don't usually study when they're together." Mrs. Malfoy said brightly to her husband. Rose couldn't help but feel that Scorpius' mother had gotten the wrong idea about the two of them, or that Mr. Malfoy was not pleased with his son being on civil terms with a Weasley let alone anything more. Luckily Scorpius took this moment to pipe up.

"M-mother its n-not like that. We are just fr-friends."

"Of course darling, I never said you were anything else." This time it was Scorpius and his father who shared a knowing look.

"So how did you meet then?"

"Mother-" Scorpius warned in a soft tone.

"Sweetheart, it's not often that we get to meet your friends let alone any of your girlfriends."

" _M-mother she is-"_

"Yes, yes, I know she isn't your girlfriend. I simply meant a friend that is a girl. So tell me Rose, how did you and our Scorpius become friends?"

Rose looked toward Scorpius, hoping that he would read her silent question of whether he was comfortable with her telling the story. He simply looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to begin. Rose cleared her throat.

"Well we only properly met over the Easter holidays this year."

"Don't you Weasley's and Potters all get together for one big jamboree on public holidays?" Mr. Malfoy addressed Rose for the first time since they sat down.

"Public Holidays, birthdays, Sundays. Any day really." Rose answered with a nervous laugh. Mr. Malfoy simply stared at her for a moment and then went back to his cup of coffee.

"Rose w-was in the hos-hospital wing at the end of th-the term and she had-had to stay at school for the ho-lidays." Scopius offered, seeming to know that his father's comment was more of a question as to why Rose was at Hogwarts during the holidays rather than a jibe at her family. Mr. Malfoy simply nodded.

"Ignore him. Go on sweetheart, so you were at school during the holidays?"

"Um yeah. We were about the only seventh years left so I joined him at the Slytherin table during meals and we sort of eventually got to know one another."

'Oh that's wonderful! I trust that Scorpius was a proper gentleman than?" Scorpius' mother gave him an expectant look when she made this comment. Scorpius avoided his mother's gaze, knowing she would be able to see right through him. Scorpius expected his mother to berate him lightly but Rose had already stepped in.

"Of course, he even escorted me on my first trip around the entire lake."

"The lake?" Draco asked rather forcefully. Again, Scorpius averted his parents' line of sight.

"Yes sir. We finally went all the way around it on the last day of the holidays." Rose took another sip as she noticed the silence which fell upon the table once more. Rose took this time to notice that Draco also opted for long sleeves, even in uncharacteristically warm weather. Her mind immediately went to the dark mark which, she was sure, was etched on his left arm. Voldemort's demise would have faded the mark, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was still there. The silence was broken by Mrs. Malfoy's voice once more.

"Oh good, here comes the waiter. Yes young man, you may take our orders." She said before the waiter had even opened his mouth to tell them the specials.

"I will have the grilled fish with the garden salad, a vinaigrette dressing please."

"I'll have-"

" _He_ will have the lean steak with the seasonal vegetables, no chips please."

"Astoria-"

"Draco, you need to look after yourself. I'm not letting you have greasy food just for the sake of it."

Rose tried to hold back a smile but then realised that she too had wanted the chicken with chips and salad and had to quickly re think her option as Astoria addressed her.

"What would you like dear?"

"Um, just a chicken salad for me please." Rose said with her eyes downcast at the menu. Scorpius' order followed hers after a slight pause.

"Warm lamb salad p-please" he said and handed the waiter his menu.

"Would you like the minted yoghurt with that?" the waiter asked, sounding rather bored.

Scorpius looked up quickly. Rose had the suspicion that he was panicked and had not realised his order would warrant a choice. Before he could answer, his mother stepped in.

"Yes he would like the yoghurt, on the side would be best I think. And for drinks we will have another pitcher of water for the table please. Thank you." She said and handed over everyone's menus with a nod.

"Lovely. So, what are your plans after Hogwarts Rose?" Mrs. Malfoy asked. Rose was slightly taken aback. Strangely enough, no-one had ever asked her that question before, and apart from choosing a career for careers week in sixth year, she had not thought about life after school seriously.

"Um, I'm not sure actually."

"Surely you have some idea? There's only a few months left of school after all."

"Yes I suppose so, I just figure that I will work hard at school and then once my grades come back I can see what courses or jobs I would be qualified for."

"Hm, I suppose that's, smart." Astoria said, seemingly eyeing Rose up and down.

"Well I just don't want to pick a career and then be disappointed if I can't pursue it because my grades weren't high enough. I'm just planning to consider my options once school is over. Besides, I want to travel a bit before settling down into a long term career."

Astoria seemed more satisfied with this answer and nodded with a smile.

"Has our Scorpius told you what career he has chosen?"

"M-mother. I don't think-"

"Nonsense dear, your attitude is the only thing stopping you from going after what you want."

Rose looked at Scorpius quizzically. He stared at her as if pleading to change the subject, but Rose couldn't do that as she was intrigued.

"No he hasn't told me. What are you planning to do after school Scorpius?" she asked with a seemingly innocent smile on her face. Scorpius looked rather uncomfortable.

"It it's just that I wa-want to to do it b-but I don't – I can't."

"Nonsense darling, of course you can!"

"Astoria, the boy says he doesn't want to-"

"You're talking just as much nonsense as he is. He said he thinks he can't, not that he didn't want to. And you're both wrong! Sweetheart, you can do anything you put your mind to. If you want to be a journalist, then find a way to make it work for you!"

Rose looked at Scorpius in shock.

"A journalist? But you – "

"Can't t-talk yeah."

"No! Well actually, you don't talk much but I was just going to say that then you'd most likely be working for the Daily Prophet."

"A journalist is as good as his work, not the reputation of the publisher." Mrs. Malfoy insisted.

"Yes but if he's published in that sorry excuse of a newspaper, no one will take him seriously!"

While Rose couldn't help but like that Scorpius' mother was supportive, she had a rare feeling of respect for Draco. It seemed he disliked the Daily Prophet just as much as she did. It was strange to think that they were almost allies on this topic. Rose's family had suffered greatly at the pen of that publication, but then again so had the Malfoys. Unfortunately, if Scorpius was to become a journalist, it was the only publication that would be widely circulated enough to get his stories out there. This seemed a great pity to Rose.

To Rose's surprise they had finished their meals and all participated in idle chatter. To be more specific Scorpius, Rose and Mrs. Malfoy had participated in conversation while Mr. Malfoy grunted in agreement every now and then. Scorpius laughed lightly at something his mother said and then pulled his sleeve back to check the time as it would almost be time to head back to Hogwarts. In the amount of time it took for him to notice the time and turn to address Rose, his arm was held firmly against the table top. Draco had spotted the scar on Scorpius' arm. Scorpius was frozen; maybe in fear, maybe in shame. Rose didn't know. A silence once again fell over the table. Astoria was looking from Draco to Scorpius, her brows furrowed when her eyes fell upon her son's forearm.

"Lift up your sleeve." Draco said quietly.

Scorpius didn't move. He simply stared at his father.

"Scorpius, lift. Up. Your. Sleeve."

Scorpius finally moved at this quiet but sharp command, slightly moving his head from side to side. His father still stared at him with narrowed eyes. After waiting for a response for another minute, Draco finally had had enough and slammed his hand on the table.

"Scorpius!"

Scorpius now looked as though he wanted to cry or run away. Maybe both. Eventually he slowly folded up his sleeve so that the snake and skull were visible as scratched white and pink lines; the aftermath of a horrible curse. Rose heard Astoria gasp. She was expecting her to say something to stop the tirade that was surely coming, but Astoria stayed quiet.

"Do you think this is funny?" Draco asked, again in that deathly quiet voice. Scorpius avoided his gaze.

"N-no, no sir."

"You look at me when I'm talking to you!" Scorpius quickly looked up, glasses halfway down his nose but clearly not daring to push them up.

"What, is that on your arm?" Draco asked.

"I-it-it-it's a a scar." Scorpius finally got out.

"I can see it's a scar. Would you mind telling me why it looks like – that?"

The amount of fear and disgust in Mr. Malfoy's voice made Rose one hundred per cent sure that Scorpius' father was not the one to brand him. There was also no imagining exactly what he would do next though, as he looked absolutely livid. Rose was still waiting Astoria's intervention. It never came.

"Did you do this to yourself? Answer me! Did you do this to yourself?"

Scorpius could only manage a shake of the head.

"Then WHY do you have this, this, mark on your arm?"

Scorpius looked pitifully at Rose, but she had nothing to offer. Up until an hour ago, she was under the impression that it was the man sitting across from her who had caused such an eyesore. Rose's first suspect was now officially crossed off the top of her list. Unfortunately her list only ever consisted of one person. She simply stared back at Scorpius with the same panicked expression. She felt helpless to him. Rose saw Scorpius swallow hard and attempt to speak. Nothing came out.

"Spit it out son!"

With shaking hands, Scorpius finally attempted to slide his glasses back up his nose.

"I can't." he said clearly.

"WHY NOT? I demand to know what's going on!"

There was a gasp directly opposite where Rose sat. Initially she thought it was another patron who had finally taken notice of the situation unfolding at their table, but it turned out to be Astoria.

"Draco darling, calm down. Scorpius, I think it's time you told your father."

Scorpius' head turned so quickly to his mother's that Rose swore she heard a crack.

"I know about it all sweetheart. I just – I just thought it had all stopped."

Scorpius's mouth was now open in shock.

"I do hope you will excuse us Rose, we have a family matter to discuss." Astoria did not wait for a reply. She simply got up and gestured for the men to follow her. Seconds later Rose was left alone at the table, feeling rather perplexed. She was in so much shock and confusion that she had the sudden preposterous thought that they had left so that she would have to foot the bill.

After 20 minutes, the waiter began to clear the plates from the table and Rose was beginning to think that maybe her first crazy thoughts weren't so crazy after all. If the Malfoys did not return, she would indeed have to pay the bill. She had thought of casting another super sensory charm on herself to see if she could pick up their voices nearby, but decided against the idea; not because it would be an invasion of privacy but because there were too many people and noises around that it would be impossible to tell one amplified sound from another. Before Rose could wrack her brain for any other spells that might be of use, three blonde heads made their way through the entrance and sat themselves at her table.

"Sorry about that dear. I see that the waiter has cleared the table. Who's for dessert then?"

* * *

"So, a journalist huh?" Rose asked Scorpius as they walked back to the castle via Hogsmeade Station. They had ordered and finished dessert as though nothing had even happened. Scorpius had hugged his mother and shook hands with his father in farewell without once alluding to what they had discussed when they had left Rose at the table. One thing was for sure though; Mr. Malfoy still seemed livid, even if he didn't vocalise his anger. Rose was obviously curious but not so much that she thought she could bring it up with Scorpius, hence her light hearted choice of topic. It appeared that Scorpius was willing to play along with ignoring what happened at lunch.

"Yeah, I thought of it f-first because I w-would get to write a lot. I did-didn't think about interviewing pe-people until I decided I real-ly wanted to do it."

"So why do you still want to do it? It seems like the idea completely scares you."

Scorpius paused in thought as she asked this question.

"I want to to be able to get m-my ideas out there, and write-writing is the best way _f_ or me to do that."

"I know you have trouble with talking, but I don't think you should choose a profession purely because it's the only way to can communicate fluently." Rose said insightfully.

"It's not not just that." Scorpius replied with his head bowed. Rose waited for a couple of seconds and then encouraged him to continue.

"W-well I want to b-be able to find out the tr-truth and make sure pe-ople know what the truth is. I know what it's like t-t-to have people think things about you th-that just aren't t-true. I want to sto-stop stop that from happening to anyone else."

Rose stopped walking and looked at the boy next to her in awe. She smiled.

"I know exactly what you mean." She said and started walking again even before Scorpius had slowed down.

They made it to the castle entrance without mentioning the strange events of lunchtime. As Rose was about to ascend the stairs towards her dorm, a bounding figure came up to her.

"Hey Rosie Posey, Scorpius." Lily said, addressing Scorpius with a very large smile.

"Hey there Lils. How was your date?" Rose asked. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, we went to the three broomsticks, hardly romantic! And then he spilled his butter beer on me, twice! Then after almost ignoring me after one of his friends sat down to join us, he leant in expecting a kiss at the end of the date! Ugh!" She huffed again.

"So what are you thinking, that he just wanted to go out with you for your name?"

Lily rolled her eyes again and huffed.

"That's what I'm putting it down to. He clearly wasn't that interested. I have a feeling he planned his friend to come and sit with us."

"Sounds like a bit of a shocker. Good thing you didn't kiss him then." Rose said matter-of-factly. Lily averted her gaze.

"Oh Lily, you didn't!"

"Well – I don't know, I just thought that maybe he was for real and figured I should give him a chance to see if there was anything there."

"And?"

"And he kisses like a wet fish. I'm not even willing to stick around just for a bit of fun."

"Oh Lily, that was too much information."

"Rosie, when are you going to realise that I'm only a year younger than you? You really need to get over that, right Scorpius?" Lily nudged Scorpius who had been glancing around the entrance hall looking rather uncomfortable. He quickly turned to look at Lily when she nudged him.

"Oh, ah y-yeah."

"He wasn't even listening Lily, how could he possible agree with you? Scorpius, you think that Lily is too young to start talking about having boy toys don't you?" Rose asked expectantly.

"Ah-"

"Don't answer her Scorpius! She's just trying to use you against me!"

Scorpius looked from one red head to the other and was at a loss at what to say. He started to rub the back of his neck looking rather uncomfortable and Rose picked up on this sign. She laughed.

"Sorry, shouldn't have dragged you into that. We should probably let you go back to your dorm now, go on, you're free!"

Scorpius smiled and shook his head.

"Th-thanks. See you."

"Yeah, see you in transfiguration on Tuesday. Save me a seat?"

Scorpius smiled again. "Sure."

Rose quickly waved goodbye and continued up the stairs while Scorpius took the path to the dungeons.

"So what did you end up doing in Hogsmeade today?"

"What, considering you dumped me for a guy who kisses like a fish?"

Lily sent her cousin a glare. Rose just laughed.

"I actually, uh, ran into Scorpius and strangely enough ended up having lunch with his family."

Lily stopped on the last step and stared at Rose.

"Hang on, you ended up having lunch with his family? What exactly happened over the holidays Rosie?"

Rose lightly hit Lily on the arm.

"Don't be ridiculous, nothing is going on. I was in the new part of town and, quite literally, ran into his father. Then his mother invited me to lunch."

Lily had only just started walking when she stopped again at this news.

"So you ran _into_ Scorpius' dad and then his mum asked you to lunch?"

"Well Scorpius called them 'mother' and 'father' but yeah."

"So Mr and Mrs Malfoy simply asked you to lunch because you knocked them over?"

"Just Mr. Malfoy, and they only asked me to lunch because Scorpius came out of the café at that point and they realised we were friends. Well Mrs. Malfoy was the one who asked, I was under the impression that Mr. Malfoy wasn't too pleased."

"That has got to be one of your stranger Hogsmeade stories Rosie. So was his dad all scary?"

Rose smiled and shook her head, thinking about the odd turn of events during lunch that day.

"Not as much as I thought he would be. His mum is quite nice, although I don't think she ever used my name, just called me 'darling' and 'sweetheart'."

"So his dad is slightly scary and his mum is overly nice? Who would have thought it. I bet they weren't too happy that their son is friends with a Weasley girl?"

"Of course his dad was a bit strange with me, but I think they just seemed happy that they got to meet one of his friends. I got the impression that his parents have never met any of his friends."

Lily looked sideways at Rose.

"Have you ever thought that maybe he hasn't had any?"

"Any what?"

"Any friends."

"Oh um, well I suppose you're right." Rose went quiet for a little bit then decided to lift the mood a little.

"So just how bad was that kiss?"

* * *

Rose headed straight to Transfiguration from Herbology that Tuesday, ready to catch up with Scorpius who should have saved her a seat, had he kept his promise. The only problem was that Scorpius was not in class that day. Nor was he in any of the other classes that they usually shared. The logical thing to do would be to ask someone where he was but the conversation with Lily was still playing in her head: _"have you ever thought that maybe he hasn't had any?…any friends."_ Rose thought long and hard about this statement as she believed it to be true. Scorpius was so self conscious about his speech that he had never reached out to anyone, and Rose had the suspicion that whatever was happening to him at school, or more precisely who was doing terrible things to him at school, had never made things any easier. Thinking about how she and Scorpius met, Rose suddenly felt uneasy. She hadn't seen him for three days, not in class, not in the dining room, not in the grounds. Rose was lying in her bed and should have been drifting off to sleep like the other girls in her dorm, but she couldn't shake her uneasy feeling. She suddenly ripped back the covers and tramped down the stairs into the common room. Not even bothering to sneak into her cousin's dorm to borrow the invisibility cloak, she strolled right out of the portrait hole with only the hospital wing on her mind. She didn't care if she got caught. Rose walked a deliberate path to the hospital wing but stopped abruptly when she came to the doors. What if this time it was worse? Last time Scorpius was branded presumable simply because of his family's past. If only he would stand up for himself. If only he would fight back. Pulling at her hair, Rose plucked up the courage to open the doors in front of her. Just like the time they first talked to one another, the curtains were drawn around the bed second from the window. Rose had no doubt that Scorpius was behind those curtains but it took her five minutes to pluck up the courage to see what state he was in. She suddenly wondered what had happened to him the first time she saw him in there. They had never talked about it.

Rose slowly made her way to the curtain and drew it back so she could hide herself behind it. Rose didn't realise that she had her eyes closed until she needed to open them to see. Slowly, her lids opened and she could see the unmistakable outline of Scorpius lying on his side. She leaned over and scanned his sleeping face for any signs of injury but couldn't see anything. Thinking it odd that he was on his side, she checked to see if he was completely asleep before pulling the sheet down slightly so she could see his back. Rose had to stifle a gasp as she saw the number of bandages wrapped around Scorpius' back and side. There was a small red stain at the top of one of the bandages and Rose felt slightly sick. For someone to have attacked him again, they must have been within the school itself. Was it a student? Was it a teacher? What if Scorpius' father been right all along in saying that Scorpius had done this to himself, maybe out of self loathing or punishment? Rose was now shaking as she pulled the sheets back up to their original position. Too many thoughts were going around in her head and none of them seemed to make sense, and none seemed to comfort her either. Rose quickly moved away from the curtained bed and left the hospital wing, again not caring if she got caught. It should have occurred to her that if Scorpius was attacked at school then she quite possibly could be under threat walking around so daringly in the middle of the night. But it didn't.

As Rose climbed up another set of stairs without realising, she was brought out of her reverie by a voice.

"Please sir!"

"No I will not! You were found by another teacher, with your wand out and yelling at the boy who need I remind you was completely unconscious and bleeding at the time! The spell was cast from _your_ wand! You are lucky we have not made this information public as of yet, and do not get the wrong idea; we have simply not made this information public due to the wishes of Scorpius Malfoy himself. I hate to think that this request may not be of his own volition!"

"Sir you can't possibly think that I _imperiused_ Malfoy! Especially after what happened!"

"Right now, I do not know what to believe. Mr. Malfoy wishes this information to be kept quiet at this current time. But when he is finally thinking – straight - I will be informing your parents faster than you can fly. Do you understand me?"

"Sir-"

"I said do you understand me?"

While Rose couldn't see who was behind the corner, she imagined that in the silence that followed, the student looked rather panicked. The pause finally ended.

"Yes sir," the boy said quietly.

"Very well. Now off to your dormitory. I will see you for detention again tomorrow night. Nine o'clock sharp."

"Yes sir."

As Rose heard both sets of footsteps fade away, she wanted to move but knew that if she did, she would probably run into the person who was behind Scorpius' admission to the hospital wing. Even if she wanted to move, she figured that she wouldn't be able to. She let out a sob and slid down the wall, forgetting her need to stay silent. She whispered to herself as she held her head in her hands, feeling sick.

"Oh Albus, what have you done?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! Thanks for reading, bookmarking and leaving kudos! Comments are also welcome ; )


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Rose. Rosie!"

Rose looked up from her bacon and eggs, which she did not remember dishing up for herself, and looked up at her cousin Albus.

"Sorry, what?" Albus laughed and shook his head at her.

"I said, if you're just going to play with your food, can I have your bacon?"

Not making eye contact, Rose handed her plate over the table.

"Sure, I'm not hungry anyway."

Albus stared at Rose with a strange look on his face as he took the plate from her.

"You okay Rosie?"

"What do you mean? Of course I'm okay." Rose answered a little too quickly.

"Sorry, it's just that you seem a little, off."

Rose still couldn't look him in the eye.

"Oh yeah, I just couldn't sleep last night. I'm a bit tired."

It wasn't a total lie. Rose hadn't been able to sleep the night before. Once she had returned to her dorm room, she closed the curtains and lay awake for most of the night. The few hours she had actually been able to sleep were filled with nightmare visions of Albus attacking Scorpius, then other students and then her family. She hadn't wanted to believe any of it but it all fit. Albus had always talked about the Malfoys with a degree of scorn and he had taken a particular dislike for Scorpius. However, even knowing this, Rose would never have thought that her cousin had the potential to attack somebody. She had thought that maybe it was an accident but then remembered that Scorpius had been in and out of the hospital wing for the whole year, maybe even since he started school. Rose's thoughts had drifted off once again and she only just realised that Albus had asked her another question. She also realised that he had already finished her bacon. He was definitely related to her brother and father.

"Sorry Al, what?"

"Rosie, you're really not with it this morning. Are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. So what did you say?"

"I was just wondering whether you wanted to come along to quidditch practise tonight and help score? We're going to have a bit of a fun practise match for the younger 'up and coming' players but you know everyone in the team – they can't be trusted with scoring."

"But don't you-" Rose cut herself off. She was going remind Albus that he had detention tonight but then remembered that he didn't know that she was aware of what he had done. She didn't feel very comfortable spending time with Albus at the moment.

"Ah actually, I'm going to meet up with Mattie. Haven't been able to catch up with her properly since starting back at school."

Albus looked a little disappointed.

"Ah well, I suppose friends come before quidditch. For you anyway."

"Haha, yeah. Well I'd better be going. See you Al."

Rose had left the table before Albus even had the chance to raise his hand in a farewell. He looked toward her exiting back with a frown but shook his head and continued to talk to the person next to him. Rose felt his eyes on her the whole way and was relieved when she finally began to ascend the stairs and no longer felt her cousin's stare.

* * *

Rose didn't know where her feet were taking her until she stood in front of two large double doors which she knew very well. The hospital wing entrance was rather grand with large ornate wooden doors that seemed to distract one from the possible horrors that could be lying beyond. However, Rose was not fooled by these large beautiful doors. She knew very well what horrors lay beyond the entrance and her feet wouldn't move past the landing. Rose closed her eyes and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. She wanted to see Scorpius and make sure he was alright. The bandages she saw the other night did not look pleasant and she remembered the slight grimace that was on his face as he slept. No matter how hard Rose tried to reach for the door handle, her hand would not move. After a minute of standing in front of the door, Rose's hand finally started moving again but in a constant tremor. She stood staring at her hand for a while until she realised the tremors were making their way through her whole body. Without realising that it was coming, Rose let out a loud sob and quickly tried to stifle the noise. Before she knew it she was trying to hold in wracked sobs and realised that no matter how long she stood in front of the door, she would not be able to enter. She quickly turned from the entrance and ran until she came across the first empty room she could find. It was one of the charm's class rooms. Rose closed the door and slid down to the floor, finally letting her sobs come out clearly. As she tried to calm herself with deep breathing she almost started hyperventilating. A foray of negative thoughts came to the forefront of her mind; Scorpius' bandages, his grimace, the look on Mr. Malfoy's face when he saw the scar on his son's arm, Albus taking to Scorpius' arm with a knife, Albus turning into Voldemort. Rose couldn't stop the thoughts that were coming into her head. On top of that, she felt a dead weight which she knew to be guilt which was constricting her chest. Guilt that she had let this happen to Scorpius. Guilt from not knowing what was happening this whole time. Guilt for being related to someone who could have such a dark side. Guilt at thinking that her cousin was indeed, evil.

It took Rose half an hour to bring herself together. She finally stopped the interfering thoughts which plagued her mind but still felt the constant weight of guilt which she knew she couldn't shake with deep breathing and a tissue. Rose shakily got herself off the floor and went over to a mirror on the opposite wall. Her eyes were puffy and her face red. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at her face, attempting to form a mild glamour charm that would hide the tell tale signs of her breakdown. Not completely satisfied with the results, but glad that she was no longer red, Rose silently made her way out of the classroom. She was supposed to have Arithmancy at this time but knew that she wouldn't be able to concentrate no matter how hard she tried. Instead of heading to class, Rose took a detour and entered the library. She pulled a random book off the shelf and sat down at the back of the library, hoping that nobody would see her there. As she took her seat, Rose glanced at the title and scoffed.

" _Know Your Family: Spells to Uncover Branches in Your Family Tree_ "

"Too bad I hadn't found this a week sooner," Rose muttered to herself. As Rose didn't want to have to get up again, she opened the book with a huff and pretended to start reading it.

"Did you say something Rosie?"

Rose looked up and saw Mattie with a pile of books and still trying to reach the third highest shelf. Rose allowed herself a small smile. What a coincidence that she should run into the very person that she said she was supposed to be meeting.

"Oh, hi Mattie. Let me give you a hand."

"That would be great!" Said Mattie whose books had started to tumble from her hands, only to have Rose catch them at the last minute. Mattie reached up high and collected the book she was looking for, then took a seat next to Rose at the table.

"Thanks for that Rose, goodness knows why I thought I could carry seven books at once!"

"Why exactly were you carrying them anyway? Why didn't you just use your wand to get them all down and float them to your table?"

"Well I'd already gotten three books down and then couldn't reach my wand."

Rose laughed genuinely for the first time that day.

"Oh, I needed a laugh, thanks Mattie!"

"You're welcome."

There was a slight pause so Mattie continued.

"Why did you need a laugh, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine!"

Mattie looked at Rose with a raised eyebrow. Rose sighed.

"Ugh, I don't know. Things have just gotten – I mean have you ever thought that you knew someone, like really knew them, only to find out something that absolutely floors you?"

"Not from personal experience but yeah, I think I know what you mean."

"Yeah well, it just turns out that you can't trust everyone."

Mattie just sat in silence and nodded. Rose didn't have any 'best' friends but always appreciated Mattie's ability to support her by just letting her say what she wanted and not pushing her into divulging any information that she didn't want to.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Nah, that's okay. It's just something that I have to – " Rose stopped mid sentence because she had just thought of something that Mattie could indeed help her with.

"Actually, there is something you could do to help."

"Sure, anything."

"Well Scorpius is in the hospital wing and I wanted to visit him this morning but for some reason I couldn't face walking in there." There was a pause as Mattie made a face that indicated she wanted to know exactly what was going on but she stayed silent. Not wanting to rouse too much suspicion, Rose continued.

"I think it might be something to do with having to stay there for so long over the Easter break, I haven't quite figured it out." She waved her hand as if dismissing the thought, "Anyway, I was wondering whether you could go and check on him. He doesn't have many friends and I just want to make sure he's okay."

Mattie looked less suspicious but appeared slightly apprehensive.

"I don't know Rose, I don't know him very well, actually I don't know him at all and I don't really think he would appreciate a visit from a stranger."

"It's okay, you don't have to talk to him. You could just check on him and ask Madame McKinnon how he's going. And just in case you were wondering that he was too scary or weird or something then you don't have to worry because he's a decent bloke."

Mattie looked like she was thinking the request over. She sighed.

"Fine. When do you want me to see him?"

Rose cheered up slightly.

"Any time today would be great. Do you think you could get around to it this afternoon and then meet up with me tonight to let me know how he's going?"

Any other person would ask why Rose couldn't just do it herself but Mattie simply smiled and said, "sure".

"You are such a champion Mattie! Thank you so much!" Rose got up off her seat and hugged her friend. Mattie laughed.

"No problems Rosie. But if I have a favour at some time, you are the first person I am coming to!"

"Deal!"

They shook on it and Mattie reached for her wand and elevated her books.

"Well how about I meet you tonight after dinner and I can let you know how your friend is going?"

"Sounds great." Mattie was just walking away when Rose called out to her, "Hey Mattie?'

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. A lot. Really."

"No problems Rosie. See you later."

Rose felt as if the weight she was feeling lifted slightly. She grabbed another random book off the shelf and opened it, pretending to read again.

* * *

After some time, Rose only realised that she had fallen asleep when she felt her shoulder being nudged by someone. She jolted upright and wiped her mouth, worrying that she had drooled over herself in her sleep.

"Rose, you're awake I see?"

"Sean! Oh, sorry, yes I'm awake – now."

"Well I didn't think you would appreciate half the school knowing that you fell asleep in the library. It's almost lunch time."

"Oh shoot, is it? I must have drifted off ages ago."

Sean looked slightly sheepish and averted Rose's gaze before he addressed her.

"So, is this why you weren't in Arithmancy?"

Rose put her hand to her head. She had almost forgotten that she had classes.

"Ah yeah, I wasn't feeling well but not bad enough to go to the hospital wing so I thought I would come here to mellow out for a bit. Did I miss much?"

Sean glanced up at Rose again.

"No, not really, no." It looked like Sean was about to say something else but seemed to be stopping himself.

"but?" Rose prompted.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way but the other week you said that we could sit next to each other in Arithmancy and you weren't in class today so I was just wondering if you had, um."

Rose buried her face in her hands yet again.

"Oh I'm so sorry Sean! I wasn't trying to blow you off, I've just had things on my mind and I just forgot, I'm so sorry!"

Sean looked relieved and relaxed considerably. Rose gestured for him to sit down and he smiled widely.

"Well I'm free right now so how about we sit together now?"

"That'd be great." Sean sat down next to Rose and piled his books to the side.

"So"

"So" they both said at the same time. They both laughed.

"So, tell me about yourself Sean."

"Ah there's not much to know really."

"Don't be like that, how about you tell me about your family?" Sean smiled again. Rose realised that his smile lit up his face and reached right up to his eyes. It was nice.

"Well my mum is a muggle born and works in reception at St. Mungo's and my dad has his own book shop in New Diagon Alley."

"I've been in there! That place is amazing!"

"Yeah, dad lets me help out over the summer holidays. I could take you for a tour one day maybe?"

"Yeah that sounds great. So, brothers and sisters?"

"I've got a younger sister, Sheridan. She's almost three."

"So you're an older brother then? What's that like?"

"Well it's pretty easy at the moment. She came along when I was still at Hogwarts so only got to see her on holidays anyway. It's strange to have someone at home who I haven't spent that much time with but she's just so amazing."

"Aw, look at you the doting big brother."

Sean laughed and nudged Rose on the shoulder.

"So you're telling me that you _don't_ think Hugo is the most amazing thing in the world?"

Rose gave him a look and shoved him back.

"Have you _seen_ how my brother eats? It's a free for all, and he's loud and annoying and dare I say it, a little dim."

"But you love him anyway right?"

Rose sighed, "Unfortunately!"

They both laughed and continued to talk until it was time to go to lunch. Sean invited Rose to eat at the Ravenclaw table and she accepted willingly. Not only did she like Sean's company but she was looking for any excuse to not run in to her cousin at that moment.

* * *

Rose eventually went to the rest of her classes that day but couldn't avoid sitting at her own table for tea. She kept glancing toward the Ravenclaw table, looking for Mattie but only ever finding the gaze of Sean instead. After the third time of getting caught looking over there, Rose had to stop lest Sean thought she was some love struck crazed teenager. Rose scoffed down her food like a true Weasley and exited the hall before anyone could catch up to her. She stood next to the entrance, waiting for Mattie to come out. She waited for half and hour and hid from five people before Mattie finally caught up with her, coming from the stairway rather than the great hall.

"I'm so sorry Rose, I lost track of time and forgot where we were supposed to meet and then realised that we just said after dinner and didn't actually say a place – "

"Mattie, its fine. Um how was Scorpius?"

"Oh yeah, right sorry. Um I kind of missed out on dinner, do you think we could hit the kitchens?"

"Oh sure."

As Mattie ordered some toasted sandwiches and cupcakes from the house elves, Rose was finally treated to information regarding her friend. She felt the guilt start to weigh her down again, not only for believing that her cousin was a decent person but also because she was ashamed that she could not enter the hospital wing.

"How's Scorpius?"

"He's good. I asked Madame McKinnon how he had been going and she said that he was almost healed. She seemed really suspicious that I was there though and I just said that I wanted to make sure he was okay and she just smiled and encouraged me to go and talk to him. As weird as it sounds, it's like she's his mother, she was just so happy that someone was there to see him. So I was a little apprehensive about having to talk to him and was kind of hoping that he would be asleep but then Madame McKinnon drew back the curtain and practically announced my presence and said 'Master Malfoy, you have a _visitor_ " with that intonation and everything and so I had to stay."

Rose noticed that Mattie seemed rather cheerful and happy about the whole encounter but Rose didn't worry herself about that as she was just so relieved that Scorpius seemed to be getting better physically. She nodded as Mattie continued.

"So, Madame McKinnon smiled and left and it was kind of awkward."

Rose finally started listening intently to what Mattie was saying. She had been so worried about feeling so guilty about not going to see Scorpius that she forgot that he probably wouldn't have been comfortable with a stranger coming in to check on him. She made her first comment since Mattie started talking.

"Oh, I feel terrible, I can't believe I did that to him. He doesn't like to talk to people that much."

"Well that's what I thought and it was certainly true at first. There were these huge pauses after I asked a question and he seemed rather uncomfortable and unsure."

Rose nodded and gestured for Mattie to continue.

"But, after a while he sort of, opened up."

Rose felt a pang of something completely different than she had felt all day. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"I feel bad for seeming so shocked by this but he's really, nice. And he's got a great sense of humour, even despite being injured in the hospital wing."

"Oh that's great that you got to know him a bit." Rose said, feeling as though the words had to be forced from her mouth.

"The only thing is that he seemed so, self conscious. He sort of stumbled a lot over his words. Does he do that with you? I just assumed he was nervous or something."

"Why would he be nervous?" Rose asked quickly.

"I just thought because he was talking to someone new."

"Oh right, well that's fair enough."

Rose sat in silence as Mattie continued to inform her of what they had talked about and how surprised that Mattie was that Scorpius was a decent person. Rose figured that she was slightly peeved at the information she had received purely because Mattie must have assumed that Scorpius was not a decent person to start off with. It was the only reason she would be feeling the way she currently was.

* * *

Rose found the next week to be even more difficult than the last. Rose was now avoiding Albus, Scorpius and Mattie, all for very different and confusing reasons. In fact, Rose had been avoiding nearly everyone in the school as she couldn't seem to face the possibility of confiding in someone and finding out even more about herself. Rose knew that Scorpius had been let out of the hospital wing two days after Mattie went to visit. If she saw him walking down the hallway, she simply tried to avoid him, just like many of the other students did. If she knew that he would be in her class, she made sure to only just make it to class on time so that the only seats left were at the very front, away from Scorpius who liked to hide up the back. She hoped that Scorpius didn't notice, after all, she had other friends and would often go for a week without catching up with him. Rose felt as though she was being rather petty and stupid but she had never had to face such strong emotions before in her life. She lived her life in trust of others and hated that she couldn't do so anymore.

Rose had a moment of rationality one day in the library where she saw Scorpius sitting at one of the study tables. She made a split decision that she should just go up and talk to him and her legs naturally started to move in his direction, but before she could get half way, Scorpius was approached by another person. Mattie had noticed Scorpius sitting alone and had decided to join him. Rose stopped dead in her tracks and quickly left the library when she saw the smile that Scorpius greeted her friend with. Rose continued to ignore everybody that day.

It turned out that Rose could go a week without talking to Scorpius, but apparently two weeks was the absolute maximum time that she could avoid him without him becoming suspicious. Rose was still trying to avoid him and always left class before everyone else. One day as Rose was halfway back to the Gryffindor common room, she realised that she felt rather light. At first she thought that the guilt had finally passed but a second was all it took for her to realise that she had forgotten her bag. With a huff she turned around and stormed back to the classroom. She silently opened the classroom door and breathed a sigh of relief that the classroom was empty. She strolled up to the first table and snatched up her bag. Rose was beginning to feel that being this stressed and angry all the time was exhausting but she still left the room once again with a stomp. The corridor was clear when she left the room so it was quite a shock when she ran headlong into another student as she rounded the corner. The knock was enough to push her backwards and stumble, but not hard enough for her to fall down completely. As was Rose's luck, it turned out that the person she had run in to was Scorpius Malfoy. He looked at her with a concerned expression to start with but then avoided her gaze.

"S-s-sorry"

Rose huffed, "Don't worry about it, it's fine."

There was an awkward silence and Rose was about to make an excuse to leave but Scorpius beat her.

"W-why didn't you c-c-come visit m-me?"

Rose was taken aback. Even though this would be the obvious question, she had never thought about what she would say if he asked it.

"Oh I was busy. Sorry." She said, also trying to avoid his line of sight.

"H-have you b-been avoiding m-me?"

Rose answered a little too quickly.

"No, of course not, what gave you that idea?"

Scorpius shuffled a little bit on his toes.

"You d-don't t-t-talk to me in class, you haven't s-at at Slytherin ta-table during any mmeal and w-we haven't cau-caught up since since I got out of the hospital wing."

"Well it does seem like damning evidence but I've just been busy, that's all."

Scorpius looked up and Rose saw something strange in his eyes. It could have been hurt, it could have been annoyance, she wasn't sure and she didn't wait around long enough o find out.

"Sorry Scorpius but I have to go. See you later." Rose said and quickly strode off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Now it was Rose's turn to notice that Scorpius wasn't quite right. She noticed that he had stopped taking notes in class, something that she knew he did in every class so he could read out his own answers without stuttering. The professor had even asked him a question but he refused to answer which was very unlike him. She hadn't noticed him in the Great Hall, even though she hadn't been going there too often herself. She saw that he hardly reacted to a zooming paper plane that was sent his way in class one day. Rose knew for a fact that the plane was deliberately directed at him because she was sitting in front of the people responsible and knew that the paper contained thinly veiled insults which would scream out to the class once the paper was opened up. Even as another student opened the discarded paper and the room filled with the verbalised insults, Scorpius remained passive. It was this that Rose was most annoyed with. She almost forgot the guilt in herself as she witnessed Scorpius sitting there stony faced, not writing anything down and refusing to answer all questions and requests. Forgetting that she was trying to avoid him, Rose cornered him after class and dragged him into the same empty classroom the she had checked on his wound. She didn't know what was going to happen until it did.

"What the hell are you playing at Scorpius?" She still held his wrist tight from when she dragged him in there.

"W-what are _you_ playing at? And what are you do-doing?" he asked, sounding irritated.

"Why do you let people treat you like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you don't matter! Like you aren't worth anything?"

Scorpius stopped looking annoyed and looked stunned at Rose's outburst. He said nothing so Rose continued. She stepped closer to him as if to make her point more clear.

"You've stopped taking notes."

Scorpius looked even more confused now but stayed silent.

"Scorpius, you've stopped taking notes! You _always_ take notes and you _always_ answer questions even though you have to read them off your own sheet! You're letting them win!" Rose started wondering where she was going with this herself. She was so mad that she figured she would just keep talking until she hopefully made her point.

"So, so th-this is about notes?" Scorpius said slowly.

"No it's not about notes! You're letting people walk all over you! You let the professor yell at you, you let those stupid fuckheads throw paper at you and insult you in front of everyone and you didn't even react!"

A flash of hurt crossed Scorpius' eyes and he looked toward the ground.

"Please don't look at the ground, look at me a face me! You let people walk all over you, did you know that even _Mattie_ was thinking that you were some strange person that needed to be avoided and that she was so shocked that you are actually a nice person?"

There was a pause and then Scorpius finally spoke.

"I thou-thought you m-m-might have sent her." He said almost sadly.

"Yeah, you're right, I did. But that's not the point. You have lived in fear and copped so much for so long that it's time to grow a pair and actually start to stand up for yourself! You let Al-" Rose stopped as she almost choked saying her cousin's name. This appeared to have gone unnoticed by Scorpius. Rose coughed and continued.

"You let _people_ practically _torture_ you at school! Consistently! Or have you not noticed that you seem to always be in the hospital wing or that you have been branded with the dark mark?"

Scorpius remained silent, yet again.

"Look at you! You won't even stand up to _me!_ You know, when I got to know you I honestly wondered why the hell you were even put into Slytherin. You seemed so kind and good natured. But now I understand that it was perfect for you, that you were put there because you are just like a normal Slytherin, but you just go about things in a different way. You're still as stealthy as a Slytherin, sly in the way that you have kept your stupid fucking secret for so long and selfish in the way that you won't let anyone near you. Who else in another house would go to such lengths to keep their flaws or insecurities hidden? And you certainly don't have the bravery to be a part of Gryffindor, and although you're smart you're certainly not assertive enough to be in Ravenclaw and you're not openly kind enough to be in Hufflepuff. Because when it comes down to it Scorpius, you're just a coward. Someone who is too scared to be who they really are and stand up for what they believe in. You want to breeze through school and life without even being noticed but you're going to miss out on so much more purely because you don't want people to see who you really are!"

Rose had tears rolling down her cheeks now and she realised that although what she was saying was essentially true of Scorpius, what she hated most was that nearly everything she said also reflected her own demeanour and insecurities. Scorpius looked at her with a pained expression.

"R-rose, I'm-"

"Don't you fucking DARE say that you are sorry! Look at you, I'm standing here yelling and insulting you and all you can do is apologise! Stand up for yourself! Fight back!"

By this stage Rose was starting to hit him, trying to provoke a reaction from him. Scorpius simply tried to grab and hold her wrists so she wouldn't hurt him. He finally got her to calm her flailing limbs and she stood before him sobbing and almost crumpling to the floor. Scorpius was the only thing holding her up. He looked rather scared.

"Let go of me," Rose said weakly.

"You'll fa-fall."

"I said LET GO OF ME!" Rose screamed and Scorpius gingerly let go but stayed close in case she fell over. He was beginning to be concerned for her safety, and piece of mind. Just as Rose leant against the wall for support, the door to the classroom opened.

"What the fuck? Rose?"

Rose just let out a sob and Sean went to help her to stay upright. Sean looked up at Scorpius who looked even more scared than before. He looked petrified. Sean gently peeled Rose from the wall and leant her on him for support.

"What the fuck are you staring at Malfoy? Haven't you done enough?" He said and glared at the still blonde in front of him. All that could be heard were Rose's small hiccoughs as she left the room with Sean. Scorpius still hadn't moved. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Rose! She's a bit conflicted and very much not herself here. She's still a good egg, just going through some stuff! Huge thanks to everyone who has left kudos and bookmarked. Feel free to leave a comment too!


	6. Chapter 6

Rose was leaning heavily on Sean as they walked down the corridor. It was lucky that this happened in the class before lunch as most students had already made their way to the Great Hall and the corridors were relatively deserted. Now being out of Scorpius' presence she started to feel ashamed. She was still unravelling the thoughts going through her head and couldn't think straight because her recent actions provided too much distraction. She was no longer openly crying so Sean lead her to a window and gently encouraged her to sit on the stone ledge. Rose looked at the ledge blankly but eventually followed suit when Sean sat down first, offering her his hand and leading her to sit next to him. They sat in silence, Rose wiping at her face to erase the wetness her tears had left. It was only after she let out a loud sigh that Sean spoke.

"Rose are you okay?" He asked gently, her hand still in his.

"Ha, how there's a loaded question." Rose replied with a smile. Sean didn't reply, still just looking at her. Rose hated silences. "To be honest? No, I'm not sure I am."

Sean was silent again but Rose didn't feel like delving into her confused thoughts at this particular moment. There was more silence which Rose tried to feel comfortable with but she felt secretly relieved when Sean finally spoke.

"Rose, what did he do?" Sean asked with a bit of an edge. Rose looked upwards, her eyes filling with tears again and she let out a bitter laugh.

"Nothing. He did absolutely nothing." She paused, thinking of her guilt. "And I just stood there and screamed at him like a banshee." Rose had let go of Sean's hand by this point, but Sean continued to stare at her with concern.

"You sure he didn't do anything to you?" Sean asked, clearly still sceptical. Rose stared back at him.

"Positive." She replied.

"It's just that I heard yelling and you were yelling for him to let go of you." Sean said, clearly not believing Rose's report. It was as if Rose had forgotten this detail even though it was merely 10 minutes prior. The words she screamed at him and her actions of hitting him came flooding back with a new wave of regret.

"Oh Great Gryffindor's Ghost I did, didn't I?" she mumbled, her face now in her hands.

"It was kind of the reason I went in. Not a great thing to hear, a girl telling a guy to let go of her."

"No, I can't imagine it did sound very good." Sean raised his eyebrows at her expectantly.

"Sean, I know it sounds bad but I promise you he did nothing. He's not like that, he-" she stopped herself. Scorpius was very private and she valued his friendship – that was if they were still friends after this debacle. She didn't think it would be fair to talk about him and what she knew to another person.

"Sounds like you two know each other quite well then." Sean said lightly, but Rose could sense there was a hidden question in there.

"Well enough. We were both the only seventh years left here over the Easter break so –" she trailed off, caught up in her thoughts again but she did continue. "Not sure if I thought he needed a friend or whether I did."

"So, that's all it is then. Friends?" Sean asked slowly.

"Yes. Friends." Rose replied. At this comment she launched herself off the ledge. "I'm so sorry Sean, you've been so good to me right now but I think I have to go back." She said in a rush, almost pacing, not knowing which way to walk. Sean stood up in front of her, noticing she seemed a little lost. He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to ground her.

"Rose I don't think that's a good idea."

"But you don't understand, I was-"

"I have a feeling you don't have anything to apologise for. I'm not sure you're telling me the whole story but when you were shouting, it sounded bad." He saw Rose's face fall at this information so he quickly continued, changing tact. "Besides, he's probably not even there anymore, probably gone to lunch or back to his common room."

Rose took a calming breath as Sean's words washed over her. He was most likely right.

"Do you want me to walk you back?" Sean asked.

"That would be nice. Thank you."

"Come on." He said gently. He took her hand again and lead her in the right direction.

They were silent during the walk up to the Gryffindor common room. Rose was comfortable with the silence this time as students had started filling the corridors again after lunch and she didn't wish to discuss the morning's happenings with anyone else around who might hear and also misinterpret what happened.

They arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady and stood there, still holding hands. Sean looked down at her.

"I believe this is your stop?" he asked jokingly.

"Looks like it."

Sean looked as though he was about to say something but thought better of it and gently squeezed her hand before letting go. Before he turned to walk away he asked.

"Sure you're okay."

Rose smiled a genuine smile.

"I will be. Thanks."

Sean nodded and turned away but he stopped when Rose called his name.

"Hey Sean?" she asked. He turned to face her. "Save me a seat in Arithmancy?"

Sean's smile lit up his whole face. "For sure."

Rose felt marginally better after her talk with Sean. It made her feel more grounded and allowed her to detach herself from the situation and think more objectively. Rose was tired, her eyes were puffy and sore and she felt utterly exhausted so headed up to her room, not caring about attending the rest of the day's classes. As she drew the curtains she let wave after wave of complicated emotions wash over her but she couldn't hold on to any one thought. She tried to focus on her various thoughts, almost now trying to justify her own actions.

She had avoided Scorpius, then got angry at him when he did the same. Why? Was it to do with her shock and disappointment about Albus causing pain to him and lying to his friends and family about his true self? She wasn't even sure this was the case but the mounting evidence was fairly damning. By proxy she was also angry at Scorpius for not divulging this information to her, or at least setting the record straight and telling her who was hurting him. Is this also why she was so frustrated at him for not standing up for himself? He never did fight back so she didn't know why it was different this time.

She tried not to think about why she had reacted so strongly to Scorpius' passivity, nor her own part in him acting that way in the first place. She had mulled over these previous points for so long it was a surprise to her when she remembered the niggling feeling she had when she saw Scorpius smile at Mattie in the library. She was about to dissect that thought more but something that felt a little like denial had stopped her. Her brain shut off that train of thought, not wanting to venture down that rabbit hole at that particular point in time. It did, however, redirect her thoughts to Sean. Was there something there? He was clearly interested in her but the memory of how things ended with her previous boyfriend, Mitchell Williams, made her a little cautious, not to mention that Sean was the one who knocked her off her broom in the last Quidditch match she played. Sean seemed very nice but it was hard for Rose to completely confide in someone and let them know her insecurities which was almost a requirement to be in a relationship with someone. Rose had family and many acquaintances. She had never had a best friend but always wanted to be in the company of others. This meant she was good at social interaction but never had the opportunity to spend large amounts of time with one person to get to know them completely and for her to share herself fully. Except with Scorpius. True, she had kind of thrust her company on him initially but she had spent more one on one time with him than any other person outside of her family. She knew things about him that no one else did and they had unspoken agreements and in house jokes. He was the first person she was able to fall into a comfortable silence with. And here she was after avoiding him, then getting angry at him for avoiding her and then cornering him, yelling at him and hitting him. She felt a deep pang of shame and guilt, and at that thought, Rose pulled the covers over her head. Again she ignored another emotion that came to the surface and instead vowed to find Scorpius and apologise for being such a terrible friend. Friend, not social acquaintance. However that would have to wait until tomorrow as she was now asleep.

Rose had looked for Scorpius all day but couldn't find him. She tried to ignore the thought that he might be back in the Hospital Wing, because it was far more likely that he was ignoring and avoiding her. At least that was what she hoped. She decided that if she got to the end of the day without seeing any trace of him, she would indeed look in the Hospital Wing, but she hoped to Merlin that she wouldn't find him there. For now, she needed to get ready for her first Quidditch practise since being knocked off her broom. Madam McKinnon had forbade her to go back on a broom until now, just to make sure her brain was fully healed before putting it at risk again. Rose was looking forward to flying again as it made her feel so free. They only had one more game to play until the school year and therefore, Quidditch season was over. They weren't in high contention for the Quidditch Cup, that honour looked like it would go to Slytherin, but they wanted to end the season on a win and just make sure they didn't end up in last place. It also meant that the Gryffindor seventh years on the team could focus on their upcoming exams rather than also worrying about also taking out the Quidditch cup. That's what they told themselves anyway.

For an hour and a half, Rose was able to forget her worries and just fly. As her broom soared, so did her mood. She didn't realise how much of a release it was for her until she wasn't allowed to do it for so long. She zoomed in and around other players, avoided bludgers, thought she caught sight of the snitch at one point but that was not her job. She completed flying drills, ball drills and fitness as instructed by Albus. She had almost forgotten what he did that made her feel so rotten in the first place. With her newfound clarity she decided she would confront him after practice tonight. If he told her the truth and it was what she had been thinking, she had no idea what she would do but at least she would know. But if he told her that it wasn't him who had been tormenting Scorpius, she would try to get Scorpius to open up and tell her what had been happening.

Rose didn't want to confront Albus in front of the rest of the quidditch team so she flew a few more laps. Being the captain, Albus was always the last person to leave as he had to pack up the balls and organise all the gear.

Rose was keeping watch of the change rooms as she flew lap after lap. She counted each person who left and when she thought that all but Albus was left, she finally descended and dismounted her broom. She was about to enter the change room (hoping that he had already changed) when she heard another voice. As she had waited a long time already, and was sure she had counted the right number of team members so she was starting to get frustrated, and her courage was waning. She resigned herself to waiting outside the door until the last person left. She was busy rearranging some twigs in her broom, not paying attention to the conversation Albus was having, until something caught her attention.

"Have you told anyone what happened?" she heard Albus say quite directly.

"N-no." Replied a stuttered voice. She would recognise that voice anywhere. Rose accidentally broke the twig she was moving and froze. They must have been talking about the night Albus got his detention. The night he did some very questionable magic from his own wand. She had no idea what to do. Should she go in there an confront him, caught in his confession? Or should she wait it out and only go in when things went south.

"I know you told the professors it wasn't me, but I don't think they believe you." Albus continued.

"I d-don't suppose they d-do."

"There needs to be something, anything you can do to clear my name."

Silence.

"Surely you could just tell them who really hurt you, I mean it's happened for so long and you know it's going to happen again." Albus said angrily.

Rose's stomach dropped right to her toes. For some reason she thought she could handle hearing him confess to hurting Scorpius, but in the back of her mind she had made a justification that it was a group of the and he was only involved in a couple of run ins. The fact he was trying to blackmail Scorpius into saying someone else did it while threatening him with further abuse made her want to vomit. Even if she wanted to storm in there she couldn't. She was at a loss for words.

"What about Rose?" Albus asked, again forcefully. Holy crap, now he was trying to peg it on her when she was one of the only people trying to help Scorpius! Rose fell against the wall.

"W-w-what about Rose?"

"Have you told her what happened?"

"No."

"I know you probably don't want to talk to me about it but I'm already involved so you really have no choice."

Oh Albus! Thought Rose. This just kept getting worse.

"I c-c-c-can't." Scorpius replied, stutter increasing and sounding more desperate.

Albus sighed. "I know the teachers don't know who is responsible, so I just thought if you couldn't talk to me about it then Rose would be a safe bet. Thought you would have already told her actually." Albus' voice was more gentle now.

"I j-just c-c-can't. I d-don't want t-to involve her. C-couldn't for-forgive myself if she got h-h-hurt."

"Look Scorpius, Rose can hold her own, trust me. She may be the only ally you have who can actually help." There was a pause. "You know, besides me."

Rose was digesting the change in conversation. Albus called him Scorpius, and then called himself an ally. Rose was very confused.

"Al-bus, I c-can't"

"I know you say that but-"

"I CAN'T!" Scorpius shouted back at him.

Rose wasn't sure if she was more shocked at finding out Albus was now not the culprit, at the boys calling each other by their first names or the fact that Scorpius shouted at Albus with such force and conviction. Maybe her hissy fit at him had paid off.

"Okay okay! Not my circus, not my monkeys." Albus muttered. "Please tell me there's something we can do though. You said this has been happening for years. Madam McKinnon knows, McGonagall knows, hell I'm sure all the teachers know and you've never outed the person – or people – once. Except now they think it's me and they would have already told my Dad if you hadn't begged them not to."

"S-so-sorry. I-"

Albus let out a grunt. "Look, don't worry about that. It's not your fault they stole my wand. Mum always said to never keep my wand in my back pocket. You know, in case I blow my arse off or it gets stolen. The wand, not my arse."

Rose could almost imagine Scorpius' wry smile at Albus' confession.

Albus continued. "Just wish I knew who the fuckers were! Hang on, can you at least tell me if it's just one person or more than one person, kind of want to know what we're dealing with here"

"I can't!" Scorpius insisted.

"Are you fuc- FINE! Merlin's saggy left – You're making it very hard to stick up for you, you know?"

This time Rose even heard the smirk in Scorpius' voice. "Oh, I kn-know."

"Well, as long as you know. I'll still try though you pain in the arse! Just, do me a favour. I know you're worried about her but, please tell Rose. She's very good at fighting for the underdog. I mean, she barracks for the Cannons for Merlin's sake!"

There was a lull in the conversation as Rose heard Albus pick up his quidditch bag. Rose noticed the door shift slightly but still didn't move.

"Hey Alb-bus?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. F-for everything. As you s-said, n-not your monkeys."

"Don't mention it. No, seriously don't. Not only will it make your tormentors realise you have allies now, but I can't have the fact we're chummy get out. We have a reputation to uphold right?"

Rose heard Scorpius chuckle. "Of c-course. Got to mmake sure I'm still int-intimidating d-don't I?"

"True, true. Although you might want to lose that stutter and you know, stick to the silent brooding."

"Oh n-no. I m-meant getting fr-friendly with a Potter. Can't ha-have people thinking I've gone s-soft, con-conversing with the enemy."

"But being seen with a Weasley is fine?"

"Y-yeah w-well tha-that's d-different." Scorpius replied, trying to keep the banter going but faltering a bit. Rose saw Albus' wide grin as he opened the door.

"Oh I'm sure it is." He said suggestively. Rose missed this innuendo as she was trying to flatten herself into the wall as much as she could. Luckily it was dark and Albus strode past her without noticing her lurking in the shadows beside the door. She barely noticed when Scorpius also left the change rooms as she was once again lost in her thoughts. Albus was not the tormentor. Albus and Scorpius were now on a first name basis apparently. Scorpius had another ally but still wouldn't say who was hurting him. Albus and Scorpius banter and joke. While half of her world had righted itself with realising Albus was innocent – she couldn't thank Merlin, Scamander, Flamel, Gryffindor or Dumbledore enough for this outcome – the other half had turned upside-down knowing that the two were now friendly with one another. Now more than ever she wanted to find Scorpius and have a very long discussion

It wasn't until two days later on the Saturday that Rose could even find Scorpius, let alone try to talk to him. She had thought about discussing things with Albus first but she felt she owed Scorpius a huge apology before involving Albus in this any more than he already was. Rose was at the point where she didn't know how to approach Scorpius anymore so came up with an elaborate plan. She noticed that he had showed up for lunch that day and knew she could catch him as he left the hall. Thinking quickly, she transfigured a pen into a bucket and started filling the bucket with scraps of leftover food, as well as some perfectly good fruits and vegetables that someone could have had as their seconds. She grabbed the now full bucket and waited behind a suit of armour, just outside the hall doors. She knew she wouldn't have much time as Scorpius liked to eat quickly and leave quickly so she kept an eye out for a tall blonde figure any time the door opened.

When she realised it was him coming through the door, she quickly darted out from behind the armour and deliberately dropped the bucket, some of the food spilling out onto the floor.

"Bugger it!" Rose said, pretending she didn't realise Scorpius was there. She eyed him through her lashes and thank goodness he was walking over to her.

"Rose, w-what are you do-doing?" he asked, clearly confused enough by the situation that he had forgotten he was avoiding her.

"Oh, Scorpius thank goodness! I promised Hagrid I would bring some scraps to his chickens. The handle just got a bit slippery."

"Okay?" he said, drawing out the 'ay' at the end - not due to the stutter but out of suspicion.

"Think you could give me a hand with cleaning up this mess?"

Rose barely had time to stand up when Scorpius waved his wand and all the food was back in the bucket and the floor pristine.

"Wow, non-verbal." Rose muttered in awe. Scorpius didn't reply but Rose could see he was about to excuse himself.

"Hey, um, do you think you could help me? I could really use a hand." She could tell Scorpius was still suspicious, and rightly so but she needed to get him away from others so they could talk openly.

"It's one bu-bucket of f-food Rose."

"Yeah but it's like, really heavy. Why do you think I dropped it?"

Scorpius stared her down.

"Um, I'm scared of chickens?"

Scorpius crossed his arms while staring at her.

"Hagrid then, I'm scared of Hagrid!"

At this, Scorpius was clearly starting to find this amusing.

Rose continued in a more quiet voice so no-one would overhear.

"I just – can you please come with me. I really want to talk."

"On-nly talk, n-not yell?"

"No. No yelling. Promise."

Scorpius sighed and gestured for her to lead the way. He did take the bucket off her hands though. As they exited the castle, Rose realised it was a lovely sunny day. Still a chill to the air but sunny nonetheless. She heard Scorpius muttering to her.

"Scared of chickens m-my arse. Y-you love chickens. All you bloody ta-talked about when t-telling mme about your f-f-family Easters."

"Oh, you remember. I thought you weren't listening."

"I alw-ways remember w-what you say."

Rose stopped in her trek to Hagrid's hut and chicken pen. She grabbed Scorpius' arm to stop him as well.

"Any chance you've forgotten what I said the other day?"

"N-no."

"Right, of course. Well that's um, that's why I lured you out here in the first place." Rose stated, talking becoming a stalling tactic as she worked up the nerve to continue. She bided more time by directing Scorpius off the path and under a tree, both finding a separate protruding root to sit on. Rose took a big breath.

"Scorpius, I am so, so sorry. I should never have cornered you, or yelled at you or hit you. I mean, you were ignoring me and were being a bit of an arse to be honest and I was worried about you so you can't blame me-"

"Is th-this an apology o-or are you j-just going to te-tell mme what I did wrong again?" Even though the words sounded harsh, the look on his face was more of fear. Rose sighed again and gripped her temples.

"Sorry I – I'm so confused. I think – I think I'd better start again." Rose wasn't planning on telling Scorpius about the Albus situation but she felt she had to change tact now as apologising without an explanation simply wouldn't suffice. Rose took in a deep breath and sighed. She was doing that a lot lately.

"I was frustrated at you for not telling anyone who has been hurting you and I was even more frustrated that you have been in the hospital wing at least three times that I know of since we became friends. Don't look at me like that, of course we're friends! So, I was frustrated at you already but could ignore that because it's really your business. I mean, it's stupidly noble and I don't agree in not outing the person but still very stupid." She took another breath, not letting him interrupt her as she was on a roll and it almost felt good to let it all out. "As I said, frustrated and all that. But I was avoiding you because I was also afraid to find out the truth."

Rose finally looked up at him and noticed his face was stoic. She couldn't read him at all.

"Why was I afraid to find out the truth? Well, on the first night of your last visit to the hospital wing – would you call it a visit or an admission? – anyway, that night I did actually visit you – there you go, it must be admitted because I visited but you were the one admitted – Anyway, you were asleep and on the way back to the common room I heard Professor Douglas arguing with Albus about his detention and the fact that his wand was used to cast the spell that hit you and he was found over you, yelling, well I'm not sure but he said he was yelling. So naturally –"

"You thought Albus had d-done it?" Scorpius said quietly, placing his head in his hands, shaking his head.

"I didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was a bit too good. I don't think I wanted to learn that my suspicions were right so I tried to avoid both of you. I avoided Albus to stop myself from accosting him and demanding an explanation, and I avoided you because, well I didn't want you to tell me the truth. I sent Mattie in to the hospital wing to check on you, as you know, but I didn't expect that one to backfire."

"Back-backfire?" Scorpius asked, whipping his head up. Rose didn't know why she kept talking but it was fountaining out of her at this stage.

"Well yeah, you're my friend, I didn't expect you to even be awake or for Mattie to even talk to you and I especially didn't think you would talk back to her! Then I tried to find you one day and caught you in the library with her and-"

Scorpius looked at her wide eyed, almost terrified. "Y-y-you sssaw tha-that?"

"Well I saw you together and for some reason I-"

"Merlin's bollocks! Ab-about that, she-she kissed m-m-me first!"

Rose stopped her planned monologue and looked at Scorpius in shock. He had gone beet red and now avoided eye contact with her. She didn't quite know how to process this information, as a friend nor as something else.

"Mattie kissed you first?"

Scorpius nodded.

"Oh, right, okay then um. Cool. Good job, you tiger you!" Rose said in a voice a little higher than she had intended while awkwardly play punching him on the shoulder. She couldn't stop her curiosity or the verbal diarrhoea that followed. "First kiss huh? Was there um, a second kiss, or subsequent kisses? Was it any good, did you do anything else? Oh God, don't answer that last one! Sorry! But seriously, are you like, together now, kissing all the time-"

Rose somehow managed to cut herself off and thought her best bet was to just stare at Scorpius and maybe he would answer, or maybe he would change the topic. She wasn't sure what she would rather.

"I d-d-don't know if w-w-we are to-together. We-we just kissed a f-f-few times."

That answer didn't make Rose feel any better, it was like he had stuck a knife in her stomach and twisted with each confession. Only a little knife but a knife all the same.

"Oh, a few times. Cool." Her airy tone indicated that it was anything but cool. They sat in a weird silence, not looking at one another for at least three minutes.

"Right, so we should get these scraps to the chickens."

"Good idea." Scorpius replied, clearly happy to avoid the topic of Mattie and kissing and – other stuff.

They walked in awkward silence, the skinny path that lead down to Hagrid's hut and the chicken pen was very helpful as they had to walk in single file which made conversation difficult at the best of times. It gave them both a small reprieve to think clearly. Unfortunately, a thought occurred to Rose and she felt spiteful but kind of wanted to stick her own tiny knife into Scorpius' gut so he felt the slightest bit like she did. They had wordlessly reached the chicken pen, spilled the contents of the bucket for them to feast on. As Rose locked the door, a necessity to avoid the foxes getting in, she threw her offhand comment towards Scorpius.

"Have you told darling Mattie who has been hurting you?" She really didn't need to add the 'darling' part. She genuinely liked Mattie but right now she was not her favourite person. Probably because she had kissed Rose's favourite person. That admission was new. The thought of Mattie and Scorpius kissing, more than once, made her angry hands unable to push the lock into place. Scorpius still hadn't replied to her but instead gently removed her hands from the lock and locked the door himself. In her huff, Rose had not moved out of his way and she felt he was much too close. His right arm was unconsciously resting up against her left and she could feel the warmth radiate through him which was strangely comforting. The only time they had ever been this close was when she was angry at him. At least this time she wasn't yelling.

"No. If I haven't t-told you Rose, I d-defini-tely haven't tol-told her." He hadn't moved away from her. They both just stared into the chicken pen, not looking at each other.

"Oh." Rose replied quietly. "Thank you." She wasn't sure why she was thanking him, but there was something very personal and trusting in the fact he would tell her over Mattie. It made her feel special, even for the slightest of moments. She tried to ignore the voice in her head that drawled 'point to Rose'.

"It's the tr-t-truth. Even if I d-d-did want to tell her, I couldn't."

Rose finally looked at him, this time with concern.

"Why do you always say that? That you can't tell?"

He looked back at her sadly.

"Be-because I c-can't." He said, almost defeated.

"But you would tell me if you wanted to." Rose asked, prying for something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Rose, I do want to tell you." That one perfectly fluent sentence made something in Rose flutter.

"Then tell me, are they blackmailing you? Threatening your family? What? I want to help. Albus wants to help."

"He to-told you what w-we talked about?"

"Nope. Apparently I'm really good at overhearing things. Quidditch practice." Rose offered in explanation. Scorpius just nodded. They still remained at each other's side, no daylight shining between them.

"Please tell me. I won't do anything you don't want me to. You can trust me."

"I kn-know I can. B-but I still can't tell you."

"Oh for-" Rose began to get frustrated but took a breath and controlled herself. Instead she moved in front of him and gently grabbed his arm which was, as always, covered by long sleeves. She focussed on breathing deeply and not shouting at him as she methodically rolled up his shirt sleeve so the scarred dark mark was visible. She noticed the muscle in his forearm twitch as she traced the mark with her finger, her other hand holding his arm steady beneath her touch.

"You don't deserve this you know. Sins of the father and all that bullshit, it means nothing. You're dad's even reformed I mean, he was just a kid. Not to mention if he hadn't I'm sure you're mum would pull him into line. I just wish you would tell me more. Just something more! I mean, you've got me paranoid about unforgivables or that you've made an unbreakable vow or something but that's just-"

Scorpius' arm tensed as she said this and Rose felt as though a current was going through him. She stopped examining his scar and looked up at him. He had gone white, well, whiter than usual and a thin veil of sweat started shone on his forehead.

"Oh fuck, Scorpius?"

He looked at her with panic in his eyes but also, she thought, some vague look of relief.

"No! You didn't! Scorpius tell me that's not it, that a bloody unbreakable vow isn't the reason why you can't tell me!"

Scorpius' face crumbled at this.

"I-I-I c-ca-can't." He said. And promptly collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun!!! I clearly love a cliffhanger...let me know your thoughts!!
> 
> HUGE thank you to Simona Mekionyte and DukeSilver420 for commenting, it made my week reading how much you are enjoying this fic!   
> Also massive shout out to all that have left kudos and bookmarked, it lets me know this has an audience (even if only a small one) and motivates me to finally finish this! This is the last of the pre written chapters so I hope there's not too much of a delay with the next one xoxo


	7. Chapter 7

Rose stood over Scorpius in horror. She had mentioned an unbreakable vow and he had fainted. At least she hoped he had only fainted, for breaking an unbreakable vow was normally a death sentence. Rose started to panic with this thought and came to her senses, staring intently at Scorpius' chest while standing above him, hoping for even the slightest of movements to indicate he was still breathing. In her panic, Rose couldn't tell if his chest was rising or whether she was just swaying, skewing her judgement. She pulled at her hair and looked around. Nobody. She fell to her knees beside him and stared at his face, again hoping for the slightest evidence of breath. Scorpius' glasses had come askew during his fall, now laying halfway down his face. Rose unconsciously returned his glasses to their rightful place before thinking to place her hand in front of his nose and mouth to check for breath.

"Oh thank goodness," she muttered, letting out a sob. She had felt the slightest puffs of warm air against her hand, indicating he was indeed still alive. She lay her head against his chest in relief until a new wave of panic hit her. He may still be alive but now she was very concerned that he was in a never ending sleep.

"Wake up, Scorpius please wake up!" she said softly and then louder, grabbing his shirt and mildly shaking him.

"Oh no, okay, what do I do? How do you wake someone who's passed out?" she panicked and the first thought that came into her head was to slap him. So she did. Scorpius remained unanimated but now sported a blooming red mark on his cheek. Rose brought her hands to her mouth in shock, not quite believing she had followed through with that action, while also frustrated it hadn't worked.

"Oh sweet Merlin, I'm so sorry! Um what else?"

True to her usual manner of breaking under stress, Rose could only think of completely useless ways that she could rouse him. She was almost about to kiss him; an idea she had thought up after mentally referencing the muggle fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, but she was stopped in her actions by a familiar voice.

"Rose? Wha're yeh doing?" Hagrid asked suspiciously as he stumbled across this very strange scene on the way back to his hut.

"Hagrid! Oh thank Merlin! Scorpius fainted and he won't wake up and I have no idea how to make him wake up!" She hoped that her panicked response conveyed the urgency of someone afraid that her friend had fallen into a never ending slumber due to almost breaking an unbreakable vow.

"Alrigh', wait 'ere." He responded, far too calmly for Rose's liking, and returned moments later with an extremely large bucket of water.

"This never failed to rouse one o' the drunks down the pub!" he said matter of factly and then promptly threw the entire bucket of water over Scorpius, soaking him from head to toe but more importantly, waking him up.

There was a pause as Scorpius suddenly sat bolt upright, coughing and spluttering while spraying water out of his mouth and all over his already soaked clothes. No one said anything as Scorpius held his hands aloft, breathing heavily and staring down at his sodden clothing. Rose stared at him, beyond relieved to see him awake albeit, not fully functional yet. She watched as an array of emotions played on his features; rage at the fact he was soaked in what was most likely manky water for the chickens, shock at the frigid temperature, confusion as to why this turn of events had occurred, panic and then realisation. He abruptly turned his head towards Rose, indicating that he had remembered her role in this and that she now knew what magical contract he was bound by. Rose wasn't quite sure how she could read this much detail from the subtle changes in his expressions, but she did. This was all Rose needed to assure her that he was relatively unharmed and she launched herself at him. She hugged him tightly, not caring that he wasn't quite hugging her back, or that she was getting soaked as well.

"You're okay," she whispered into his shoulder. His response was to finally hug her back.

"Ahem!" Hagrid's booming voice interrupted the moment and they untangled themselves, now both soaking wet.

"Rose, why don't yeh dry the both o' yeh off an' come warm up in the hut. I'll get a fire goin'."

Hagrid didn't wait for their reply but simply turned toward his hut and waved a hand, beckoning them to follow. Rose looked down at her clothes, noticing for the first time that she too was sopping wet now. She continued to stare at the dripping sleeve of her shirt, only now beginning to properly process the meaning of the conversation prior to Scorpius fainting. Neither of them spoke. Rose lifted herself off the now muddy ground and then offered her hand out to help Scorpius up. He accepted her proffered hand and he stood, steadying himself against her as required. Rose held onto him until she was confident he was sure footed, neither of them saying a word until Rose drew her wand and muttered a drying charm. They stood awkwardly, both shivering with clothes now crumpled and slightly odorous with the weight of their last conversation hanging in the air. Was it safe to talk about or would Scorpius faint again, or maybe something worse? Rose chanced a look toward Scorpius who looked as though he were going to say something but stopped himself at the last minute. Not knowing what to say either, Rose distracted herself by looking at Hagrid's hut which now had a thin trail of smoke rising from the chimney.

"Come on, we may as well warm up." Rose finally said, turning to Scorpius who simply held his hand out to indicate that she should lead the way.

The walked in silence to the front of the hut and Rose knocked lightly on the front door before she heard Hagrid's gruff voice.

"Come in!" he called out. Rose lead the way in and naturally sat down at the large table which took up much of the open space in the living area. She thought Scorpius had followed her in and expected him to sit down next to her but then noticed that he was still standing at the entrance, eyeing the room with uncertainty and possibly mild disgust. For the first time since their discussion, Rose had a sudden flicker of amusement. She wagered that Scorpius, being the upper class gentleman he was, had never set foot inside such a low end establishment. She supposed that it would be a bit of a shock to anyone, let alone to someone of Scorpius' usual fine standards. The overall feeling of the place was crowded, dusty but cozy. Cages, what looked like weapons and even some pheasants hung from the ceiling while there was a fine layer of dust covering the lesser used shelves and objects in the room. Hagrid himself was quite an imposing character at the best of times, let alone taking up space in these now rather cramped quarters. Now in his 80's, Hagrid sported a mostly grey beard and wonderfully bushy mane of hair but apart from that and the kind crinkles around his eyes he was as spritely as ever and continued in his role as Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. As Rose's mum was muggle born, she still did find it fascinating how well magical people tended to age so well – a if they were immune to so many ailments that usually befall their muggle counterparts.

Hagrid was now pouring something into two large tankards and Scorpius still hadn't moved from the doorway. Rose didn't care if he was stuck in place from awe, disgust or just still recovering from his recent episode but she felt the need to get his attention and mouth 'sit down' to him, indicating to the chair beside her. This seemed to jolt the boy out of his reverie and he quickly made his way over and flopped onto the seat beside her. Rose noticed he was shivering which in turn made her realise that she too was still chilled to the bone and shivering as well. She was distracted from this immediately as Hagrid plunked two of the tankards in front of her and Scorpius. She noticed Scorpius staring at the vessel as though he wanted to wipe the handle and rim but she caught his eye and gave him a warning stare.

"Righ', that should warm yeh up nicely," said Hagrid, not exactly specifying what the contents were. As if the promise of being warm jolted Scorpius into action, he took a large gulp and then coughed, spraying some of the beverage over the table as he spluttered. Hagrid patted him on the back.

"Also migh' put some hairs on yeh chest," Hagrid said with amusement. Scorpius looked suspiciously at Hagrid and then down to the tankard and back again.

"Don' worry. Just strong mead. You'll thank me in abou' ten minutes time."

That must have been enough explanation for Scorpius as he continued to sip on his drink rather quickly. Rose, also slightly suspicious of the alcohol content (Hagrid was part giant after all and held his liquor better than most) took a small sip but controlled the cough she wanted to release from the unwelcome burn, knowing it was coming. The drink slowly made its way down her throat and created a warm path all the way to her stomach, warming her in an instant. It also appeared to have a very pleasant side effect which caused her to become very quickly calm and relaxed. No wonder Scorpius was sipping it as if his life depended on it.

Hagrid poured himself a tankard of the same drink but also added a splash of something else from an amber bottle and casually took quite large mouthfuls. Rose could feel Hagrids eyes darting between her and Scorpius, clearly curious about what on earth he had stumbled into. While Rose knew she could trust Hagrid she wasn't about to divulge exactly what situation Scorpius had gotten himself into – she would wait for Scorpius to explain, if he could. Rose was not a huge fan of drinking and although she was quite enjoying the comforting warming and calming effects of the mead, she was only taking small sips. Scorpius on the other hand seemed to be powering through and taking larger and larger sips as he continued to drink. Rose did notice that he was far more relaxed than she had ever seen him. He was now leaning back in his chair, shoulders no longer held at high tension and he was casually holding the tankard in his right hand, taking sips and gulps frequently. Rose tried to ignore a small niggle of worry in the back of her mind. Hagrid interrupted her thoughts.

"Now that yer all warm 'n toasty, either of yeh gonna tell me what this is all abou'?"

Rose turned her head toward Scorpius. He merely shrugged at her and tipped his tankard up, draining it. Rose was only a quarter through hers and she realised that they must have been silently sitting there for at least 20 minutes. She furrowed her brows at him but realised he was giving her permission to explain the situation to Hagrid. She stared at Scorpius through the corner of her eye a few seconds longer before trying to address Hagrid.

"Well, you see – We, I mean, Scorpius has been having some trouble and um, we're friends and I've been trying to help but I haven't been able to and, well, this afternoon I found out – something and it was something big and it affected him and he – fainted?" Rose explained, or at least tried to. Hagrid was staring at her with one eyebrow raised, tankard halfway to his mouth. Scorpius had propped his elbow on the table, head resting on his fist while he looked at her expectantly and dare she say, very amused. That smug bastard!

Rose opened her mouth to try to explain much better than before but Scorpius cut her off.

"Mr. Hagrid, may I ask if you trust Rose?"

Hagrid's bushy head turned toward the boy adjacent to him, eyes slightly narrowed. "I trust Rose and her family with my life. You on the other hand-" he trailed off.

Rose bristled slightly at this, yet another person judging Scorpius before getting to know him but Scorpius simply held up his hands as if in truce.

"Understandable, but I can assure you that, while I love my father, I am very far removed from the person he was when he was here."

Two sets of eyes were narrowed at Scorpius now – Hagrid's still in distrust and Rose's in confusion. Luckily for Rose, Scorpius had sensed her confusion and addressed her next.

"Father wasn't very welcoming to Hagrid during his time here. Much like how he was with your parents Rose. Made some pretty nasty comments about Hagrid and got his Hippogriff sentenced to death." Scorpius said matter of factly. There was something very strange about Scorpius in this moment and Rose couldn't put her finger on it.

"Anyway, Mr. Hagrid. My point is that you trust Rose and Rose trusts me so therefore I assure you that you can trust me. My question though, is can I trust you?"

Hagrid's eyes were blinking quickly after Scorpius' recent address. Rose noticed Hagrid looking toward her in confirmation and Rose came out of her confused reverie and nodded back in confirmation. If she could trust Scorpius, Hagrid certainly could.

"If Rose trusts yeh then I suppose I have no reason not to trust yeh."

"And we can trust you?" Scorpius pressed.

Hagrid looked confused, "Well, yeah."

Scorpius smiled broadly. Rose had only ever seen him smile like that a handful of times. Despite how confused she was with this current situation she couldn't help but notice that he was still beautiful when he smiled.

"Excellent. In that case may I have more mead my good man?" Scorpius asked jovially.

"Alrigh'," Hagrid replied, still sounding suspicious.

Rose busied herself by staring at Scorpius while Hagrid fetched the large bottle of mead and emptied it into Scorpius' proffered tankard. Scorpius took another sip when his vessel was once again full.

"You know it's a bit of a shock when you first try it but after a while it grows on you." He said and took another sip.

"Clearly." Hagrid said under his breath, taking a sip of his own now full tankard. Rose hadn't touched any more of hers. As Scorpius continued to sip at his drink, Rose continued to stare at him. He was clearly alcohol affected (she thanked her lucky stars that she hadn't finished her own drink, despite how much it had warmed her), but he was very different than usual. Firstly, he was talking to someone who was practically a stranger and also with relative ease which was very unlike him. He was also being very formal, something she was not used to hearing from him, at least in such a large quantity as he tried to keep his sentences as short as possible to avoid stuttering. While the penny finally dropped for Rose, Scorpius had started talking to Hagrid once again.

"My guess is that you are very aware of my frequent hospital wing visits, as are most of the teachers in this school?"

Hagrid's eyes were downcast after this question, it was as if he had forgotten this fact. "May 'av heard abou' it."

"And you are aware that it is not –" Scorpius paused, as if physically having to halt what he was going to say. "-my choice, to be there so often?"

Hagrid nodded.

"Well, Rose is trying to help." He said matter of factly, "has been helping already to be honest." He added in an afterthought.

"Scorpius?" Rose said quietly but was ignored.

"So, if she's helpin' yeh, does that mean-"

Scorpius put his tankard down on the table with more force than was necessary.

"I can assure you that I would _never_ put Rose in danger, Sir."

Hagrid seemed to preen at being called 'sir'.

"Then wha' can I do?"

"Is there anywhere you know of that we can meet in secret? Without anyone finding us?"

Hagrid looked outraged and stood up abruptly.

"WHAT ARE YOU ASKIN' ME BOY?!"

Scorpius looked horrified and held up his hands once more in defence, speaking in a rush. "NO! No, no, no you misunderstand me. I just mean that Rose knows what's going on, and Albus knows what's going on so we might need somewhere secret to meet up so they don't get, hurt, by being associated with me."

At the sad way Scorpius ended his sentence, Hagrid sat down once more, happy with his answer.

"Scorpius?" Rose said in a slightly louder voice but she was yet again ignored.

"Young Albus in on this too then ey?"

Scorpius nodded. "That's only a recent development."

Hagrid took some time to process this information, finally trusting Scorpius and not needing to look at Rose for confirmation. Rose finally took this moment to attract Scorpius' attention by grabbing his knee and squeezing.

"Scorpius!"

Scorpius looked down at his knee then easily held Rose's concerned stare with a smile.

"Don't worry Rose, I'm not drunk. The alcohol has merely – kicked in." He said with a shrug, then squeezed her hand still holding onto his knee.

"But-but, but your speech!"

"I know, no stutter. More than I can say for you right now!" he said jovially. He squeezed her hand yet again which sent a wonderful warmth through her arm and down her chest into the pit of her stomach, much like the drink had done earlier. He then looked away from her back toward Hagrid but didn't let go of her hand.

"So, you do you have anywhere in mind Mr. Hagrid?"

"Jus' Hagrid'll do fine. I'm probably the wrong one teh ask to be hones'. Maybe ask Professor Longbottom, he'll be happy to help Rose for sure." Hagrid responded, somehow unaware of the exchange that had passed between the two teenagers in front of him.

"Oh. Well thank you Hagrid." Scorpius said, raising his tankard in appreciation. Hagrid did the same.

Both of them drank liberally after their gesture.

Rose was hyper-aware of Scorpius' hand on hers and distracted herself by looking out the window while the other two continued to down the contents of their tankards and then proceeded to discuss the behaviour of nifflers at great length. Rose had no idea how they even got onto the topic as she was still trying to piece together how to solve Scorpius' problem. After what felt like an age, Rose rather reluctantly slid her hand out from under Scorpius' and stood up from her chair.

"As, um, wonderful as this has been, the sun is going down and I think Scorpius and I better head back to the castle.

Scorpius looked at her and Rose had the strange feeling he could see through to her soul as he looked out the window and back to her with a very slight smile on his face. While Scorpius knew that Rose was just making excuses, Hagrid had not noticed that the sun was still relatively high in the sky.

"Alrigh' you two. Yeh need a hand getting back to the castle?"

"I think we can manage it." Rose replied politely.

Hagrid just looked toward Scorpius.

"I promise she will be in safe hands." Scorpius said, gesturing as if under oath. Rose just rolled her eyes at his dramaticism.

"Alrigh', off yeh go. Holler if yeh need anythin'. Oh and eh, maybe don' tell anyone abou' the drinks. Yer both of age 'n all but-"

"Consider it our secret." Scorpius replied.

"Get on wi' yeh." Hagrid replied, waving his hands and shaking his head while grinning at them.

"Oh and Hagrid, thank you." Scorpius said, offering his hand which was then dwarfed by Hagrid's in a handshake. They left the hut with a wave and started the trek up the steep slope, back to the castle.

"Well you sure charmed him in the end didn't you?" Rose said to the open air in front of her. As with their trek down, they had to be in single file to stay on the track and Scorpius, ever the gentleman, insisted she go first.

"Much easier to be charming when I can actually talk." He answered coolly. Rose stopped and turned to him so abruptly that he almost collided with her front but he steadied himself at the last moment.

"About that, what on earth is going on with your stutter?" she asked rather forcefully, then realising she had been quite rude, continued. "Sorry, It's just that for some reason it took me a long time to realise. I wondered why you were being so chatty and then I realised that it was just, flowing out of you."

Scorpius smiled at her. She could get used to that smile.

"I have no idea why but when I drink, it just – goes away."

"Oh, so you drink often then?" she asked, clearly prying. She simply wanted to know if she had a friend with a drinking addiction as well as everything else going on.

Scorpius raised his eyebrow at her. "You're the person I've spoken to most in all my time at Hogwarts, you tell me."

Rose just stared at him, waiting for a response.

"No, I don't make a habit of it. Definitely thought about it but I mostly save it for when I'm home. Every Friday when I'm home, Father comes home from work and we have a drink together. Doesn't take much to help my speech, just one or two so don't worry, I don't have to be absolutely wankered for it to work. It's just something we do. It helps Father to relax, it helps me to talk so I suppose it's a bonding thing. I consider alcohol the medicine that temporarily cures our Malfoy anti-social tendencies. We have some of our best discussions this way, Father likes to remind me how chatty it makes me but I just think that because normally I have a lot to say but just can't bloody say it that I let it out all in one go when drinking. You know-"

Scorpius looked back up at Rose and appeared to shut himself up at the look she was giving him. Rose was now clearly amused instead of suspcious.

"Sorry." He said, suddenly self conscious.

"No, don't be. It's very entertaining!"

Scorpius still looked sheepish but rolled his eyes at Rose's comment anyway. Rose's smile faltered as her brain thought back to the seriousness of their original revelation of the day. Scorpius immediately noticed the shift in her demeanour.

"As entertaining as this is, I think we have more pressing issues to talk about."

Scorpius' shoulders slumped and he simply nodded at her and gestured for her to keep walking. They silently strode up the hill and then veered off toward the tree that they had sat under earlier that afternoon.

Rose spoke first. "What you said earlier, about needing somewhere we can meet up. What did you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said to Hagrid. If we want to meet up we'll need somewhere that no one can see us."

"Why?"

Scorpius gave an exasperated sigh. It seemed like he was choosing his words carefully. "Because I don't have friends Rose. I don't have allies, at least that's what-" he stopped abruptly, unable or unwilling to continue.

"That's what, um, _they_ think?" Rose side eyed Scorpius, making sure he wasn't going to faint again. He simply nodded.

"Right, I'm just going to say _they_ from now on, that seems safe. This is good, we can figure out how much you're able to talk about. Great idea about finding out where we can all meet up, I might talk to Professor Longbottom tomorrow and see if he has a place in mind. I know there was the room of requirement back in the day but no idea where it is. They will think you are still on your own with no one to help, we can use that to trap them. We can meet up and figure out how to expose, um, _them,_ and stop _them_ hurting-"

Scorpius cut Rose off, "No! No, I won't let you and Albus do this! It's too dangerous."

Rose looked at him incredulously. "What? But it was your idea to meet in secret!"

"Yeah because it will be nice to see you and spend time with you and we can study for exams, not because I want you to fix things. We're in the last month of school, I just have to survive until graduation and then –" he stopped abruptly again. The small glimmer of smugness that Scorpius wanted to spend time with her was extinguished when he once again couldn't continue talking.

"You don't want them to be caught? To be held responsible for what they do to you? Scorpius, you've suffered for, well I don't know how long but long enough and we need to find a way – "

It was Rose's turn to stop abruptly as Scorpius began to lean against the tree, trying not to pass out. It appeared that not only could Scorpius not divulge any information about the spell, but that she couldn't even mention anything in detail in front of him.

"Oh crap, are you okay?" she asked, jumping up.

Scorpius leant his head against his arm and nodded, breathing heavily through his nose as if trying to calm himself. Rose stood in front of him, feeling his forehead and making sure he was still breathing properly. Once she was satisfied that he was still with her, she spoke.

"Scorpius, you're not responsible for me, or Albus. If I tell him what I found out today, he's going to want to help and you can't stop us."

"And w-what makes you think you're responsible for me?" Scorpius said sadly, feeling well enough to look up at her now.

Rose looked back at him and held her hand gently against his cheek so he couldn't look away he winced slightly at her touch. "I'm not, but this is what friends do, we help each other."

Scorpius opened his mouth to retort but Rose continued anyway. "You have me, you have Albus – well I actually have no idea if you guys are friends but you've definitely got an ally in him, and who knows, maybe at the end of this you'll even have a girlfriend."

Scorpius sat bolt upright at this comment and stared at her, clearly shocked and possibly panicked.

"G-girlfriend? He asked with a voice almost an octave higher than his normal tone.

Rose blushed and her hand flew off his face as if burned. "Mattie! I meant Mattie! See, you have at least three of us on your side. " Rose said, trying to steer the conversation back to her original point. As she turned away she missed how Scorpius deflated at this comment.

"Oh, right. Could you n-not tell her?"

That voice in the back of Rose's head was back – "Another point to Rose," it said.

"Not a problem. Just you, me and Albus then." She answered coolly, in complete juxtaposition to how she was feeling inside.

Scorpius let out a huge sigh as if finally resigning himself to the fact that he would receive help whether he wanted it or not. He nodded, rubbing his forehead from the stress of it all.

"Merlin, really? You'll let us help?" Rose said excitedly and had to restrain herself from hugging him.

He simply nodded.

"Merlin's pants, okay, cool. Okay, the first thing I'll do is um, talk to Professor Longbottom tomorrow and see about where we can meet – No! I'll tell Albus tonight about what's been going on and why you're a bit, um, limited in what you can tell us, then I'll talk to Professor Longbottom and see about a place to meet up when we can and I'll let you know somehow at dinner tomorrow night. I think you're right, we'll need to distance ourselves from you so it looks like you still have no help. We'll meet up in secret when we can and then just – " she paused, "-figure _something_ out."

Rose deflated at this thought. What on earth could they do? Scorpius was bound by magic to keep quiet and if he broke this promise then he could die. Rose had no idea how they would get justice for Scorpius but she knew she at least had to try. Maybe Albus would be of more help than her.

"I f-feel this is a bad idea but, okay."

Rose noticed that he had gone back to talking in shorter sentences and that the odd stutter was starting to return.

"Well I think that's enough revelations and planning for today. How about you head back to the castle first and I'll come up in about half an hour or so. Scorpius shook his head.

"No, you go. I have n-nothing else to do so might stay outside until tea time."

"You sure?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll get a message to you tomorrow night?"

He nodded again and gestured for her to go.

She hesitated, then spoke. "I don't know how we're going to do this, but we'll find a way."

She was met with a sad smile. "Thanks."

Not knowing what else to say she merely waved and set up to the castle, the enormity of their situation now weighing on her mind. His voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Rose?"

She turned to him. "Yeah?"

His fingers grazed his cheek. "Did you slap me?"

* * *

Rose had been thinking and stressing about Scorpius' predicament all evening and was only distracted from her thoughts when she headed down to tea and saw that Scorpius was now at the Slytherin table and unscathed. As soon as she returned to the common room, she began to feel uneasy again. She desperately needed to talk to Albus and there were too many people about. She waiting on a comfy armchair in the corner, pretending to read a book (which earned her a few strange looks as it was not common for Rose Weasley to be seen with a book) but really just eyeing Albus out the corner of her eye, hoping for a chance to get him on his own. She had to wait until ten o'clock as Albus sat at a table with two fellow quidditch team members, going over plays for their game next weekend and imparting his general wisdom onto them as he would be graduating this year and wanted to leave the team in good hands. Rose loved quidditch but sent silent glares and daggers to her three team members, willing them to finally shut up and go to bed. They were the last four people in the common room until the finally got up and made to go up to their respective dormitories. Rose shot up from her position in the arm chair and grabbed Albus by the arm before he could put his foot on the first step. He stumbled backwards.

"Ah! Rose? What the hell?"  
"Shh, Al shut up. We need to talk, I need your help!"

Albus made a face and rolled his eyes. "Scorpius?"

"Don't you mean Malfoy?" Rose replied cheekily.

"Oh ah, yeah-"

Rose held up her hands. "Don't worry, I know you two are chummy now. I also know what's been going on with him."

Albus looked relieved "Oh thank Merlin! I must have talked some sense into him the other night. Finally told you did he?"

"Well, no, I found out purely by accident so you can't take credit for this one. But he did finally accept our help."

"Our help? You offered my help without consulting me first?"

"Damn straight I did. But um, you may want to sit down for this."

"Okay?" Albus said, sounding very unsure. They scoped the common room for any stragglers and then sat down on the large sofa in front of the fire. Rose told him everything she had found out that afternoon. She realised that it may not have just been the alcohol making Scorpius chipper; it was such a relief to get this off her chest and talk freely about it and she had only known for a few hours, he had been holding this in for what she could only assume was years. Albus was the perfect audience, gasping and making shocked and disbelieving expressions at the right moments. He listened to the tale of when she found him in the corridor branded with the dark mark, how she suspected his father but then met them and ruled him out, to suspecting Albus himself and then to their most recent conversation and revelations. She conveniently left out her breakdown in the middle of all these events.

Rose paused as Albus was processing the information.

"I'm sorry, what? I thought you just said he took an unbreakable vow."

"That's why you are sitting down."

Albus looked down as if he had forgotten he was sitting already. He patted the couch to make sure it was still under him.

"Right. Okay. Are you sure?"

"Well he couldn't confirm or deny it obviously as he can't physically say anything but the fact he went white and fainted straight after I talked about it was a pretty big giveaway."

"I suppose that would explain the reason he's always angrily saying _I can't_ whenever I asked who it was, but is it really the reason? Completely bonkers if it is."

"At this stage I think we have to assume it is." While Rose was feeling far more liberated by being able to talk to Albus about this, she was steadily becoming more anxious about the situation the more they discussed it. She was wringing her hands nervously as Albus was processing the information.

"Let's say an unbreakable vow is exactly what is going on here, we have to assume that it's either one or more of the teachers doing it given it's such advanced magic, or it's a bloody insanely talented student. Or students. How the hell can we even help?"

Rose hadn't thought this far ahead. She tried not to panic and thought about what her and Scorpius had discussed after being at Hagrid's. She started talking as if narrating a story, trying not to show any emotion.

"Scorpius seems to think that it would be best to not be seen with him. He wanted to do this so we wouldn't be associated with him and we couldn't get hurt. He thought we could find somewhere secret to meet up to talk and study, probably just to keep him sane for the rest of the term. I think this might be a good idea for different reasons though."

"Merlin's bollocks, okay, I'm listening."

"Maybe if we can find a place to meet up we can talk about this and figure something out. Find out who's doing this and try to do, something, I don't know what but Scorpius thinks that he can just cope until the end of school and that it will all be over." Concern snuck into Rose's voice without her permission.

"So then there's a raging lunatic that's still on the loose either here or out in the real world? Not bloody likely."

"I knew you would want to help."

Albus sighed. "Fuck me, I didn't even like the bloke a month ago, barely even know him now but it looks like we're doing this. We have to do this."

"Thank you, Albus."

"You'd better thank me, don't think I've just glossed over the fact that you thought I'd done it!"

* * *

Rose was barely functioning by Sunday afternoon. She had not slept well the night before and her discussion with Professor Longbottom hadn't been as fruitful as planned. While being slightly suspicious of her reasons for needing a secret place to meet up, Neville had been honest with her and let her know the only place that he was aware of, the Room of Requirement, was destroyed during the Battle of Hogwarts. Deflated, Rose made her way solemnly from the greenhouses and back to the castle, wondering whether she should go to the hospital wing to get a quick fix for her ever growing migraine. Then a thought occurred to her which spurred her on, encouraging her fatigued legs ever forward and upwards towards the castle, drawing her towards the hospital wing.

After what seemed like an age to arrive at her destination, Rose forced open the hospital wing doors with so much force they nearly swung backwards and hit her as she rushed through into the ward.

"MADAM MCKINNON!" she shouted, not realising how desperate she had become. A thin figure rushed through from the office and into the ward which was thankfully empty. Students tried not to fall ill on a weekend, preferring to wait until a school day to rush to the hospital wing if they could help it.

"My goodness, Rose? What's happened?" Madam McKinnon approached her immediately, eyes already roving over her to see what needed mending.

Rose was bent over, breathless and clutching her side.

"No, not me." She puffed, "Scorpius."

Madam McKinnon's face fell. "Oh no, where is he? What's happened this time?" She started rushing around, summoning a medical bag and extra supplies.

"No, sorry! He's fine, he's okay. I shouldn't have said it like that. It's just that we need your help, your advice – Scorpius, Albus and I."

Madam McKinnon stopped and looked at Rose. "Scorpius, you _and_ Albus?"

Rose nodded.

Madam McKinnon put her hand to her mouth and Rose could see she was trying not to smile. "You mean, you're his – friends?"

Rose nodded again.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Merlin knows that boy needs a few people on his side."

"Well he has us, and you!" Rose thought very quickly and decided there was no point in trying to lie to the woman in front of her. "I haven't known him long, but I understand that Scorpius comes in here often?"

"Far too often and definitely not of his own doing, despite what he says."

"That's why we need your help. There's a reason why he can't say what's happening to him or who is hurting him. Albus and I know a little bit but we need somewhere to meet up with Scorpius without anyone seeing us so we can figure it out and hopefully catch the person."

"I take it you aren't going to tell me everything you already know?"

Rose paused before answering. "I think we need to figure a few things out first. It could get harder the more people know."

"Rose, are you sure this is a good idea? The person who's been hurting him seems to know what they are doing. I've had Scorpius in here for weeks at a time trying to reverse some of the damage that has been done."

Rose's stomach felt uneasy as Madam McKinnon said this. She definitely wasn't sure if this was a good idea. "It's scary but we have to try. I promise we won't go too far without asking for help from you or another adult."

Madam McKinnon chuckled at this. "Rose, you're graduating soon, you're practically an adult already. But you're all still students and under my care." She paused but Rose was very relieved when she finally continued. "But Scorpius has been through a lot and this absolutely despicable person needs to be caught and be made accountable for what they've done. Come with me."

Rose followed the healer to her office where she collected a very large ornate looking key. Madam McKinnon held it up.

"This is the key to the overflow room on the other side of my office. It's been in place ever since Hogwarts was created and the last time it was used was during the Battle of Hogwarts. I am very thankful that I haven't had to use it during my time here."

She crossed the office and moved a small plaque aside. She inserted the key and turned. The stone wall started to shift and move aside – it reminded Rose of the entrance to Diagon Alley. After the stones stopped moving, an archway lead to a very large open room filled with at least 50 hospital beds. They stepped inside.

"It was originally created with disease epidemics in mind. A place for large numbers of patients needing to be quarantined. It's been used in about five dragon pox outbreaks but hadn't been used for almost 100 years until the battle your parents were a part of. I was in second year during the battle, ended up in one of these beds myself." Madam McKinnon absently grasped at her upper left arm. Rose had guessed that Madam McKinnon was in her 30's but had never even thought she may have gone to school with her parents. Rose didn't know what to say.

"I'll show you where the key sits, you know how to get in here now. The only problem is trying to get in if there are patients in my hospital wing. If you can get around that somehow, then I'll allow you to use this room any time you need. I'll draw the blinds to my office from now on so it's easier to open the archway without being noticed. Don't worry about the doorway, it remains open from this side so staff can still see through to the other ward, but no one else will be able to see you or get in unless they turn the key." She had said this without looking at Rose as she was scanning the room, clearly seeing things that Rose couldn't. Madam McKinnon suddenly snapped out of her reverie and stared directly at Rose, suddenly very intense.

"There are a couple of rules to this. First rule: if things get too dangerous you come straight to me, don't go and do anything stupid. You haven't lived through war, I have. I know it is completely mental to be an authority figure and allow my students to do this but kids have saved the world before so maybe kids can help this time too. Second rule: any of you get hurt, you come straight to me and tell me exactly what happened. Every detail, who it is, everything! I won't be able to help if I don't know details. If Scorpius is not able to tell me what happened, you tell me. You got that?"

"You have my word."

"Good. Now, the final rule is that you can call me Melody, none of this Madam McKinnon crap that all the students have to use. Makes me feel old."

"No worries Melody."

"Wonderful. Now let's get out of here and I'll show you where the key lives."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to have SO MUCH happen but I got too wordy and it ended up being more of a filler chapter to set up the rest of the plot...I hope you still enjoyed it though! Next chapter is a quarter written already so fingers crossed it doesn't take too long to finish. HUGE thank you to all who reviewed, it was wonderful getting to reply to your comments! Also big thank yous to all who left kudos on the last chapter.
> 
> Hoping everyone is staying safe in these very trying times xoxo


	8. Chapter 8

_Sunday Evening,_

Rose had a newfound burst of energy after her meeting with Madam McKinnon, or Melody as she was now to call her. She knew she could easily let Albus know about their new secret meeting place but she was yet to find a way to get the message to Scorpius without being too suspicious. She was also concerned about Scorpius walking all the way to the hospital wing by himself in full view of anyone who may be patrolling or worse, in full view of his tormentor. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and continually glanced at the Slytherin table without trying to be too obvious about it. Scorpius never stayed long at the Slytherin table and if she couldn't get a message to him this evening, it would mean one less night to discuss what their plan might be. He hadn't arrived yet so she was busying herself with looking around the hall at all the students. She saw so many people she knew, so many people she thought she liked but at the same time now saw so many people she just simply couldn't trust. She glanced at her cousin Lily: surely she could at least trust her? She looked back toward the Slytherin table where Marcos sat talking animatedly with his fellow house members, surely someone as warm and jovial as Marcos couldn't be capable of such horrors? The Ravenclaw table was home to Mitchell who she deliberately drove her thoughts away from, that relationship and friendship now no longer a part of her life. Further down the bench of the Ravenclaw table sat Sean who she had suspected was taking a liking to her. He was kind, chivalrous and was very easy to talk to. If anyone had asked her a month ago she would have said she was interested in getting to know him better and was happy to explore the thought of something more with him. Now she had doubts on two fronts; one, because she felt she could no longer trust anyone and two, because there was this niggling voice in the back of her mind that was getting louder and louder which constantly compared him to Scorpius. As always, Rose sought a distraction from these thoughts which came in the form of four giggling seventh years who decided to sit around her – Maree and Charlene from her own house, Stephanie from Ravenclaw and to Rose's quite surprising despair, Mattie who had traipsed over from the Hufflepuff table.

"Rose, it feels like forever since we all caught up!" Maree chirped as she started dishing up her own tea.

"Sorry, I've been a bit distracted lately." Rose replied.

"Exams?"

"Ah, yeah." Why did Rose keep forgetting about her exams?

"Well," Maree continued, drawing the word out so that Rose knew there was a question or favour coming, "we were wondering if you had spent any more time with the Slytherin Enigma."

Rose was not sure where this was going, but decided this was a great way to start implementing 'Operation Public Distancing from Scorpius Malfoy".

"Scorpius? No, not really. I haven't seen him for quite some time now." _Brilliant acting Rose!_

"Oh. It's just, well Mattie here has apparently had a bit of a _thing_ with him and she hasn't seen him for at least a week. He didn't say anything to you at all?"

Rose feigned ignorance. "No, sorry. As I said, haven't seen him at all."

Rose saw Mattie's face fall at this and despite her own reluctant grudge towards the kind girl, Rose decided she should at least be helpful.

"I think he usually spends a fair bit of time in the library, or reading out on the grounds. Maybe look there when you want to find him? Or just go over to the Slytherin table. Surely he has to come out for tea?" Rose's internal voice couldn't help but berate her for making this last suggestion.

Mattie sighed. "No, I don't think I'll bother him. I don't think he likes talking much when there's a lot of people around."

Rose noticed the grins and knowing looks between the other girls and a heavy feeling set in the pit of her stomach.

"I can't believe he stutters! Makes the whole mysterious side of him even more interesting!" Stephanie said in a hushed tone while the other girls giggled.

"I wonder if being with Mattie will cure him?" mused Maree.

"What's she going to do, cure him with her tongue?" added Charlene and all four girls burst into laughter.

"Guys, stop!" Mattie pleaded weakly while blushing but also still giggling.

"All I'm saying is that he's hot, this somehow makes him even hotter. Tall silent and brooding, glasses, speech impediment just begging for someone to come along and build his confidence and cure him. It's textbook romance Mattie!" Maree explained matter of factly.

Rose looked at Mattie. "You told them?" she asked quietly.

Mattie's smile faltered ever so slightly. "Oh, well yes but it's not like it's a secret or anything right? He just prefers to talk one on one instead."

"Just talking?" quipped Charlene which set off another round of giggles.

Rose could see that Mattie must be starting to realise that she may have made a mistake. Mattie eyed the other girls who were distracted with their own chatter regarding the gossip and quietly addressed Rose.

"Rose, do you think he didn't want anyone to know?"

Rose tried not to let on just how much she knew about Scorpius' stutter and his strategies to get around it in public. "I don't know, I just think that if he had been comfortable with others knowing he wouldn't be so quiet all the time."

Mattie looked crestfallen. "Oh no, you're probably right. I feel terrible!"

Despite her internal resentment at the girl next to her, Rose genuinely felt sorry for her.

"Hey don't stress about it too much, just ask the girls to keep it quiet for now. It seems like you and Scorpius are close now so maybe just talk to him?" It pained Rose to say nearly every word that she spoke. Rose herself was stressed about this news, she didn't trust that the other girls would keep it quiet, she was jealous that Mattie and Scorpius even potentially had close relationship (let alone a physical one) and she knew Scorpius wouldn't be happy to talk about it.

"Okay, I might try that. If only I could get time with him away from everyone else!"

It was at this moment that Rose noticed Scorpius heading for the Slytherin table. She had been so distracted by this new gossip that she hadn't managed to figure out how to get a message to Scorpius about their meeting place. She caught his eye and ever so slightly shook her head. She noticed his head look down at this action and he made his way to the Slytherin table without looking back. Rose decided to excuse herself from the table, having eaten barely any of her tea. She needed to find Albus.

* * *

_Monday_

It was breakfast time and Rose was obsessively flicking her gaze between the doors to the Great Hall and to the ceiling. She had met Albus after tea the night before and they came up with a plan to get a message to Scorpius about their meeting place and to also ensure Scorpius was able to arrive at their destination safely. Rose finally relaxed when she saw Albus walk through the doors and give her a thumbs up on his way to her at the table.

"Morning Rose!" Albus said casually as he grabbed a goblet of orange juice. "Post arrived yet?" he asked as if he hadn't just come from the owlery.

Rose grinned. "No, not yet."

They sat in relative silence, eating the breakfast and biding their time until the roof space was filled with numerous owls delivering the letters and packages for the day. Rose had a clear view of the Slytherin table while Albus sat opposite her, so she was able to nod to Albus that Scorpius had received their letter without looking too suspicious. Albus grinned and raised his goblet in salute to Rose.

Their plan was surprisingly simple. Albus would leave his invisibility cloak hidden behind the third suit of armour from the Slytherin common room for Scorpius to collect. He would use the cloak to secretly make his way to the hospital wing entrance where Rose and Albus would join him and awkwardly make their way though the main ward without being noticed by any students residing in the beds. Once they were in Madam McKinnon's office they would be fairly safe to uncover themselves and then quietly open the doorway to the secret ward where they could have their discussions and make their plans in peace. On the way back, they would do the same thing, with Scorpius parting ways with Rose and Albus at the entrance to safely make it back to his common room, while Rose and Albus were left to sneak back to the Gryffindor common room unprotected, hopefully avoiding being caught. Now they just had to hope their plan went smoothly while somehow focussing on their classes for the day before they had planned to meet at nine o'clock. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Rose and Albus waited patiently behind a statue of a medi-witch just outside the hospital wing. They constantly checked their watches to make sure that Scorpius wasn't running too late as they had decided they would go look for him if he didn't show up in case he had found himself in trouble. It was 9:02 when Scorpius' head materialised in front of their hiding place, a huge grin plastered on his face and his glasses slightly fogged from being hidden under the cloak for so long. Rose returned his grin, relief flooding her body and she and Albus stealthily made their way out of their hiding spot. They tried hard to make as little noise as possible, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves. When it was time to all hide under the cloak they came to their first issue; Scorpius was well over six foot tall while Rose and Albus certainly weren't short so it was impossible for all of them to fit their bulk under the cloak without something being seen. The three looked at each other with equal parts amusement and slight panic. Without being able to discuss anything, Rose simply sighed and shrugged, motioning for Scorpius to stoop as low as he could. Rose and Albus also had to bend at the knees so there was enough room for the cloak to fit over all their heads and shoulders, but it did mean that the bottom of the cloak rose and their feet were still visible. Hoping for the best, Rose cast one of her only confident non verbal charms; muffliato. She hoped that if people couldn't hear them, they wouldn't notice the bottom of their trainers sneaking across the hospital wing floor.

They awkwardly made their way across the ward at a much slower pace than they had anticipated, but they made it into Madam McKinnon's office without being seen. Once they knew they were well out of anyone's line of vision, Scorpius whipped off the invisibility cloak while Rose immediately sourced the key and placed it into position. Despite their pact to remain silent, Scorpius and Albus had apparently come down with a case of uncrontrollable giggles at their current predicament. Rose glared at them in warning before facing the hidden keyhole once more, smiling to herself while she turned it. She composed herself and stepped back with the boys, raising her finger to her mouth to again warn them to be quiet as the stones parted and created the archway leading to their destination. Albus and Scorpius looked impressed, and followed Rose through the archway and into the room beyond. They looked at each other and were silent for a few seconds before they all burst into laughter.

"That was brilliant! Not foolproof but it seemed to work." Albus spoke first.

"I can't be-believe that w-worked!" Scorpius added.

"Well if you weren't such a giant it would have worked even better. Way to go on the silencing charm Rose, don't think we could have made it without being noticed otherwise." Albus continued.

"Well, what can I say, it is my specialty!"

Albus made a slightly disgusted face, "Ugh, I don't want to know why you're so good at that charm."

"Get your mind out of the gutter! That and the hearing extension charm are about the only two I can do properly. Comes in handy when you need to get back to the common room without being caught after hours."

"Well, make sure you do both of those on our way back tonight."

As Rose and Albus bantered, Scorpius was still holding the invisibility cloak, touching it gently and in disbelief.

"I've n-never seen one of these be-b-before." He said quietly, distracting the others from their conversation.

Albus scratched at his neck almost in embarrassment. "Yeah, well it's a family heirloom. Haven't seen another one before either. Suppose I just forget it's not something everyone has access to."

"Life here w-would have b-been so easy if I ha-had this." Scorpius said quietly, more to himself than the others. Albus and Rose shared a sad look. Albus walked over an slapped Scorpius on the shoulder.

"Well, for now it's as good as yours anyway. You have more need for it than me right now."

"Thank you," Scorpius said, not quite meeting Albus's eye.

"S'alright mate." Albus replied from his side, looking slightly awkward now.

There was silence which lasted far longer than was comfortable. Rose stood staring at the two boys side by side with a tell tale hot prickling behind her eyes. She wasn't quite sure why she was feeling so emotional, but she wagered it had something to do with the comradery between the two in front of her and something so specific about the way Albus had called Scorpius 'mate'. She needed to break the silence before she became an emotional wreck.

"Well we're here. Melody said we can make as much noise and destruction that we need to. Albus, do your thing."

She gestured for Albus to take over, just as they had planned the night before. Albus moved to stand in front of the other two and summoned two chairs for them to sit on in the middle of the room. He gestured for them to sit. Scorpius looked sideways at Rose as if asking for clarification about what was about to happen, but she responded only by gesturing at Albus.

"Right team, game plan. Scorpius, we need to see how well you can defend yourself. Rose and I won't be able to be with you all the time and you can't go everywhere under the invisibility cloak so we need to see what you're capable of. We'll do some duelling practice and depending on how much work we have to do there, we can move on to testing your boundaries with what we can all say about the 'issue' around you. Scorpius, I need you up here with me. Rose, move the beds and your chair to the side so we have room."

Scorpius once again looked at Rose, for confirmation or encouragement she wasn't sure, but she nodded and again gestured for him to follow Albus' instruction. Albus had gone into full on captain mode, addressing them exactly how he did to his Quidditch team. He was confident, direct and demanded respect. Rose could see that Scorpius wasn't quite used to this so she was having a great time sitting back and watching the interaction. She wished she had popcorn.

Albus and Scorpius now stood at least 10 metres apart, ready to participate in a wizard's duel. Albus held his wand out, looking well prepared while Scorpius' wand lay relatively limp at his side.

"First test, blocking spells. I'll throw something at you and you block."

For the third time, Scorpius silently looked at Rose with a questioning eyebrow. This time Rose simply crossed her arms and leant back on her chair smirking. Scorpius did a half smile and then shook his head, preparing his stance slightly more for the spells about to come his way.

"Ready?" Albus asked.

Scorpius merely gestured with his hand for him to commence.

" _Tarantallegra."_ Albus' spell shot toward Scorpius but was rendered ineffective as Scorpius completed a lazy wave of his wand and deflected the spell.

" _Furnunculus, petrificus totalus!"_ Albus continued. All spells were once again deflected and Albus stood up straight lowering his wand.

"Huh. Too easy for you ey? Right, time to dial it up a notch – non verbal."

Albus once again readied his stance while Scorpius barely changed positions, the only difference now being a smirk starting to form on his lips. Rose leant forward in her seat in anticipation.

Albus started flourishing his wand and a spell was shot at Scorpius once more. The spell never hit Scorpius as he once again shielded himself from the firing line. As Albus sent more and more non verbal spells Scorpius' way, Rose could hardly keep up with which spells were even being used. She recognised some of the wand movements but as soon as the spells were released she could only use her best guess as to what they were as there were too many at once. Scorpius on the other hand seemed to know exactly which spells were cast his way and exactly the right way to block and negate them. The two boys were now moving about, the duel intensifying. Rose saw the same fire behind Albus' eyes that he had when playing quidditch – it appeared he was enjoying this exchange. Scorpius somehow looked both relaxed and fierce at the same time, issuing a challenge to the other boy. For the first time, Scorpius sent a spell Albus' way which must have been quite the shock as Albus only protected himself at the last minute. The next ten minutes was a blur of movement, colourful spell trails filling the air and expletives when a spell permeated someone's shield charm. The sound was incredible – running and slipping feet on the stone floors, tiny fizzles and explosions when a deflected spell hit an object in the room (Rose had to duck and cover her head on numerous occasions) and the cacophony added to by the occasional verbal spell, laughter or cry as a spell hit its intended target. Rose was now observing them from under one of the hospital beds, shielding herself as much as possible from the absolute chaos around her. She noticed both of the boys were finding this duel highly entertaining as they sported big grins which Rose realised was mirrored on her own face as her cheeks hurt from the sustained smile she sported. She observed them from her relatively safe haven. They had very different styles. Albus' movements were well practised but fast and jagged, the staccato of his hand movements mirrored in his quick feet and speed. Scorpius on the other hand was pure grace. His wand movements were fluent as if his wand was merely an extension of his arm and his movements were calculated but smooth. It reminded Rose of a dance or tai chi.

Without meaning to, Rose's gaze remained on Scorpius. His movements commanded her attention. His smile and the fact he was having _fun_ created a warmth in the pit of her stomach she hadn't let herself notice before. She had always thought of him as gentle and more of a sensitive soul, his intelligence and wit drawing him to her. She hated to admit it but she had seen Scorpius as someone broken, in need of nurturing and in need of a friend. She blanched at the word 'pity' which made its way into her head. However, watching him during the duel she saw another side to him. He was confident, capable and strong – not to mention quite casually self assured in his talents, as though he did this every day. She no longer saw him as someone in need of saving - he looked as though he could save the world. Rose felt a flutter of pride and as reluctant as she was to admit it, attraction to Scorpius in this light. His confidence, the flush of his cheeks, the easy way that he pushed his glasses back up his nose after dodging behind one of the hospital beds, the strands of his usually well kept hair falling out of place and _that smile._ All the pieces of the puzzle were now complete and Rose had no reason but to accept defeat. She buried her head in her arms, no longer watching the out of hand duel going on in front of her. Her thoughts were surprisingly simple. _Oh crap, I like him._

As Rose internally bemoaned an endless string of ' _oh crap oh crap oh crap',_ she hadn't noticed that the noise in the room had eased and that the duel had ended. It wasn't until she was jostled into alertness once more by someone poking her arms that she looked out from under the bed and noticed the upside down head of Scorpius, blonde hair ruffled and pointing comically at the floor with his glasses hanging on by sheer willpower alone.

"Rose, it's safe n-now."

Rose felt her cheeks go hot. "Oh, thanks." She mumbled, trying not to say too much lest she give away all details of her recent revelation. Instead, she crawled out from under the bed and dusted herself off, willing herself to act normally. She looked around the room which was in dire need of rearranging now and couldn't help but laugh as Albus spoke, voice wobbling as his legs were still dancing uncontrollably.

"Well, I think your defensive skills can be left alone."

Scorpius merely grinned and waved his wand, casting the counter curse.

"No need to look so smug." Albus muttered. "Rose, you're up."

Rose was brought out of her reverie and used every ounce of her willpower to recall why they were there. It appeared she had been unconsciously suppressing her feelings lately so how hard would it be to continue to do it for a while longer? After all, there were bigger issues to be addressed.

"Okay," she said, focussing her attention and summoning the desk and chairs from the other side of the room. They all sat down around the table and Rose noticed Scorpius looked nervous. She had the sudden urge to hold his hand or comfort him but she controlled the impulse. Now that she had admitted that she liked him it was as though her brain and body was immediately going out of their way to make her prove it. She shook her head.

"We need to see how much we can say around you Scorpius, so Albus and I have a few things written down that we are going to try and we will see what your reaction is."

Scorpius merely looked more nervous.

"Don't worry though," Rose tried to reassure him, "We will gauge how you are doing and if you get to the point of passing out I have smelling salts, the aguamenti charm, and if all that fails a good old fashioned slap to the face."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her. "B-because that worked so well last ti-time?"

Rose blushed and smiled slightly at him in apology.

"Okay, l-let's st-t-start." Scorpius said and braced himself against the table as if the earth were going to shake.

Rose indicated for Albus to get the list and script they had worked on. She nodded.

"Here goes nothing," he said and took a big breath before rushing the question written on the page. "Scorpius, have you committed to an unbreakable vow?"

Scorpius promptly fell off his chair and fainted.

Rose and Albus looked down at the floor.

"Maybe too much too soon?" Albus asked weakly.

Rose's heart sunk right to her feet. "I thought it might be a bit extreme to start with but we had to try."

They were both still staring at Scorpius who was crumpled in a heap on the floor. It was another five seconds before Albus finally spoke.

"Ah, Rose? The salts?"

Rose shot to action and fetched the smelling salts from her bag. She waved them in front of Scorpius' nose and thankfully he twitched his head and snorted before waking up.

"Oh thank goodness. I didn't really want to douse you in water."

Scorpius looked around him and sighed, laying back and stretching out on the floor.

"I p-passed out?"

Rose nodded. "Sorry, we started too strong I think. We kind of expected that though. We'll move on if you're still keen but we will start at the bottom this time."

Rose held her hand out for him to help him stand, just like the last time this happened. She silently revelled in the warmth of his hand in hers as she helped him up and she could feel her face heating up once more. Her blush deepened as she anticipated her next comment.

"Maybe you should sit on the bed this time. That way you'll have a soft landing if we make you faint again."

Scorpius shook his head. "No, I'd rather st-ay at the table."

"Okay. Albus, you ready?"

They spent the next hour trialling different strategies to test Scorpius' tolerance. They tried talking in general about unbreakable vows and Scorpius became dizzy. Rose and Albus talked about what Rose knew about Scorpius' situation but did not directly address Scorpius. He vomited rather spectacularly at this. They talked about the same information but further away from Scorpius which helped with the vomiting but he remained very nauseous. As this tactic had at least eased his symptoms, Albus pulled out a pair of headphones from his bag and handed them to Scorpius with the logic that if he was able to tolerate them talking a bit further away from him, then the distraction of music in one or both ears would help his tolerance level. While Scorpius remained queasy, the strategy worked and Albus and Rose were able to talk relatively freely in front of Scorpius but not directly to him about the topic. They mentioned the names of some teachers and students that they hoped Scorpius might react to and give them an inkling of who might be behind the abuse but Scorpius remained stoic – he continued to look almost green but distracted himself by tapping his hand on his leg in time with the music playing in his ears which was at a low enough volume for him to still hear the conversation.

"Damn, I was kind of hoping you'd fall off your chair again if we said the right name. Was the name at least in there?" Albus directly addressed Scorpius.

Scorpius dry retched and shook his head.

"No we didn't say the name or no you can't say?"

It looked as though he must have vomited in his mouth slightly. "Can't." He said simply, waving his wand to apparently increase the volume of the music in his ears.

"Ugh, Rose this is useless!" Albus exclaimed. Rose was thinking the same thing but glancing at Scorpius and how hard he was trying to keep himself together made her determined to try their last strategy. She faked a confidence she didn't quite believe.

"It's okay, we have one more thing to try." She looked at Scorpius to check he was happy to continue but his eyes were closed and he was concentrating as hard as he could on the music. Rose felt a pang of sympathy and affection for the boy. She was unable to get his attention so she lifted up one of the headphones so he could hear her.

"Hey Scorpius? We wanted to try one more thing if you aren't too over this?"

His eyes shot open and he turned toward her. Rose's hand was still holding the headphone away from his ear but the action of turning his head meant his hair had threaded itself between her fingers. Rose somehow stopped herself from exclaiming how soft his hair was and instead addressed him again.

"We wanted to see what you could write down. Did you want to try it tonight or another time?"

Scorpius' eyes held a fierce determination. "We're already here, l-let's try it. Just do-don't blame me if I vom-vomit all over your parchment."

Rose let out a laugh, it was a relief to finally laugh about this again. In her haste to grab the quill and parchment she accidentally let go of the headphones so they snapped forcefully back against Scorpius' ear.

"Ow! Shit! Fuck! Bugger!"

Rose held her hands in front of her face in shock while Albus burst out laughing.

"Wow, that was quite spectacular. Nice to know you can say all the important words clearly," Albus jested.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

"Way to ruin the moment Rose."Albus said slyly.

"What?" Rose shot back at Albus but was then distracted by Scorpius rubbing his ear and ignored her cousin.

"You okay?" she asked Scorpius.

"I will be as l-long as you st-stay away from the headphones."

Rose smiled at him sheepishly.

"Sorry. Here, take these," she said, handing him the quill and parchment which he took in an exaggeratedly careful fashion. Rose rolled her eyes at him.

"We have written some of the same questions down that we tried asking earlier. See if you can read them and then write the answers."

Scorpius looked down at the parchment and Rose saw him scan the questions. She remembered off by heart what they had written on the parchment:

_Have you been attacked by someone at Hogwarts?_

_Has a teacher attacked you at Hogwarts?_

_Has a student attacked you at Hogwarts?_

_Has more than one student attacked you at Hogwarts?_

_Did they make you take the unbreakable vow?_

_What is the name of the person who has been attacking you?_

They had tried to keep most questions to a simple yes/no response and worked their way up with the intensity of the questions. Scorpius once again turned up the music in his headphones and finally raised the quill. Rose was shocked when she saw him use a shaky hand to write an answer to the first question: _yes._ Her head shot up and she looked at Albus who was staring right back in shock. Maybe they had figured a way through this! Rose threw her hand out and gripped Albus' arm as she saw Scorpius concentrate on writing an answer to the second question: _no._ She saw Scorpius glance down at the third question. He started to sweat and his hand began shaking intensely. He was able to put quill to parchment but he appeared unable to start writing. Rose and Albus looked at each other, the first seed out doubt planted with their new strategy.

"How about we leave you here and we'll go across the other side of the room. Come on Rose."

Rose shot a concerned glance at Scorpius who merely nodded at them, still trying to distract himself as much as possible while completing the task at hand. Rose and Albus made their way across the room and stood in nervous silence as they watched Scorpius attempt to write. It was awful to watch. Scorpius' hand continued to shake, his non writing hand either threaded through his hair or hitting his leg with a closed fist in what she could only assume was frustration. Rose tried to rush over to him numerous times but Albus stopped her with each attempt.

"Remember why we're doing this. It was never going to be easy on him."

Albus finally couldn't stop her when they saw Scorpius forcefully throw the quill across the table and rip the headphones off his head. His hands fisted into his hair as he was quite obviously gripping it tightly. Rose rushed to his side and kneeled beside him, gently trying to pry his hands out of his hair.

"I can't Rose." He said pathetically.

"I know. It's okay."

"I can't d-d do it."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry we made you do this. Don't beat yourself up about it." Rose was close to tears. She had expected more fainting, dizziness or vomiting. She hadn't anticipated this. He was rocking ever so slightly back and forth as he gripped his hair. She wasn't sure whether this was the effect of the spell working on him or simply his frustration with himself. Rose continued to gently tug at his hands, eventually freeing them from his hair. She held his hands tightly on the top of the desk in front of him. She was struck again by how warm they were.

"So-sorry. I'll try harder _n_ -ne-next time." Scorpius stuttered.

"We're the ones making you faint, throw up and generally feel terrible and yet _you're_ sorry?" Rose smiled gently at him but he still wasn't meeting her gaze.

"It's m-my fault. I st-t-started it."

"Don't talk like that. We don't have to go any further next time if you don't want to."

He finally looked up at this. "No, I wa-want to. I ju-st w-w-wish it wasn't so h-hard."

"Yeah, me too." Rose replied, trying but failing to ignore the nervous swirling in her stomach. "Come on, I think it's time we got out of here."

They finished their evening on a completely different note to the sheer amusement of the duel that they had started with. In hindsight Rose realised they probably should have left it there before diving headfirst into testing Scorpius' threshold. Albus was waiting for them by the archway of the room, invisibility cloak in hand. They exited the room into the confines of Madam McKinnon's office. Rose locked the door and they wordlessly covered themselves as best they could with the cloak. It was past midnight now so it was easy to sneak by the couple of sleeping students in the hospital beds. They uncovered themselves once they knew the coast was clear outside the hospital wing and said some quiet goodbyes. As Scorpius disappeared under the cloak again, Rose and Albus stood staring down the corridor, both lost in their own thoughts.

"That was pretty much all we had planned. How on earth are we going to be able to help now that we can't get any information out of him?" Rose asked.

There was a pause before Albus replied. "I have an idea but I know you two aren't going to like it."

Rose looked at him questioningly.

"Not yet, I think we should exhaust all other options before we go down that path."

Rose went to bed that night with the weight of the world on her chest. It was from sheer exhaustion that she actually slept.

* * *

_Tuesday_

Rose woke up the next morning feeling a giddy sense of glee. She thought of Scorpius' smiling face during the duel the night before and allowed herself the indulgence of replaying his movements and facial expressions in her mind. She considered this a harmless exercise, something she had done countless times before when she found someone attractive. Now that she had finally made the realisation that she had feelings for him she simply gave herself permission for her imagination to run wild as that all it was – her imagination, for she had received no indication whatsoever that Scorpius felt anything more than friendly toward her. Her giddiness came crashing down when she realised what the additional heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach was. Ah yes, the dead end they had come to in helping Scorpius. This feeling was further fuelled when she arrived in the Great Hall and caught sight of Mattie. She had forgotten all about the fact Scorpius' secret had been shared a few too many times. She had wanted to warn him the night before but the intensity of the evening made it slip her mind. Rose just had to hope that the girls had not let the secret go any further.

Rose's hope had been in vain. The first class for the morning was Transfiguration which she so happened to share with Scorpius. She made sure to not pay him any attention or sit near him to keep up the charade that they were no longer friendly with one another – _how ironic_ her brain commented smugly. The first indication that his secret was known was when a smartarse from Hufflepuff called Dean walked past Scorpius' desk and greeted him.

"Morning M-m-m-m-Malfoy."

Scorpius didn't reply but simply looked confused.

The second indication was when Dean and the boys he was sitting with at the back of the class sent a paper plane zooming in Scorpius' direction. Normally Scorpius would just ignore these but he must have realised what was happening because for the first time in ages he picked it up and opened it. Although the class was still noisy with everyone talking as the professor hadn't turned up yet, Rose focussed in on the message from across the room.

"C-c-c-cat got your t-t-t-t-tongue Ma-ma-ma-malfoy?"

There was laughter from the back of the room. Rose noticed a brief look of panic on Scorpius' face which he very quickly schooled into an expression of calm.

Someone called from the back of the room, "Why so quiet today Malfoy?"

More laughter.

A girl's voice shot through the laughter, "Oh for Merlin's sake Michaels, give it a rest, he can't help it if he stutters. I for one think it's endearing."

Scorpius briefly closed his eyes and took a steadying breath but still didn't react. A formation of five paper planes were sent Scorpius' way. However this time they never met their destination as Scorpius had waved his wand and the planes stopped mid air. Another flick from his wand and the planes were sent hurtling back to their owners but this time they sought some sort of vengeance and proceeded to poke and attack their creators. Rose saw the slightest evidence of a smirk on Scorpius' face at this as the noise in the room had dropped a few levels in shock at Scorpius' mild retaliation. There was no chance for anyone to comment on this occurrence as the professor chose this moment to enter the room and rolled her eyes at the scene of five boys being attacked with paper planes. She simply waved her wand and the excitement was over.

The class was very focussed on the preparation they needed to complete for their NEWT exam so the tone of the room remained serious and no one mentioned Scorpius' stuttering again. There was an obvious murmer throughout the room when Scorpius was asked to answer a question and Rose was pleased to see that there was absolute confusion when he answered fluently. Rose wanted nothing more than to catch up with him after class but she restrained herself, knowing that she would have to wait until their next meeting.

Rose's only other class for the day was Arithmancy. This class was similarly focussed on claiming the importance of studying for their NEWT exam but even though Scorpius wasn't even in this class, he provided a welcome distraction from the stress of teachers pushing the exam agenda. She was sitting next to Sean as she had promised and when there were moments that they were allowed to talk, he had asked her about the rumours going around about Scorpius.

"So Rose, is it true?" he asked her.

Acting oblivious, Rose responded. "Is what true?"

"That Scorpius stutters? Is that why he's so quiet?"

"You've heard the rumours then I presume?"

Sean scratched his neck, looking sheepish. "Ah, yeah. Heard a few comments yesterday but then this morning Amanda told me what happened in your Transfig class. Bit of a dick move by the boys by the sounds of it. But she said he was no different than usual and didn't stutter when he replied to the professor. Just wondering if it's really true."

Amanda was the girl who stood up for Scorpius during class.

"People tend to believe what they want to around here."

"So it's true?"

"Not my story to tell."

"Oh, right, of course. So you're still friends with him then? After..." Sean trailed off. Previously Rose had found Sean's attention and concern for her endearing and sweet but in the current circumstances it was just irritating her. She figured there were quite a few reasons for her reaction, most of them not even having anything to do with Sean himself. Rose was about to retort and defend Scorpius once again but she remembered their plan.

"Actually, we haven't spoken or hung out since you found us."

"Oh."

They were interrupted by being set another discussion topic by the professor. At the end of the lesson, Rose bid Sean a quick farewell, worried that he would ask her to study with him or worse, ask her out and she wasn't sure what she would say if this were the case.

* * *

Tuesday night was Gryffindor's usual quidditch training night and with their final game this coming Saturday, Albus was unable to cancel or postpone the practice. Rose could barely concentrate on playing properly with everything that had happened that day and while Albus was faring better than her, he was still not in his best captain mode.

* * *

_Wednesday_

Rose's classes on Wednesday went fairly similar to the day before. Each class stressed the importance of NEWT exams which Rose just couldn't bring herself to care about at this particular point in time. Each professor was also reminding them of the Broad Achievement Test or _BAT_ which was a wizarding general knowledge test that kicked off the exam schedule for NEWT level students. They had brought his exam in almost 10 years prior with the purpose of catching out cheating students – If a student's BAT results were much lower than their NEWT level subject exams it would raise the red flag for staff to investigate. Most students just felt it was a humiliating form of IQ test which stressed them out more than was necessary. All this talk of NEWTs and BATs or any other silly animal named tests just weren't registering on Rose's radar. She was far more concerned with how much unwanted attention Scorpius continued to be receiving for his stuttering and was becoming increasingly concerned that his tormentor would find a way to use this information against him. She was barely able to concentrate during her classes and instead kept looking at the clock to count down the hours, minutes and seconds until she was able to talk to Scorpius again and make sure he was okay.

Rose should have been spending all her free time preparing and studying for exams but any time she sat down and tried to study she would simply look at the clock yet again. As soon as it hit 8.30 she sought out Albus.

"Albus, you ready to go?"

"Bit early isn't it?"

"Not by the time we make our way there and try to avoid anyone in the corridors."

"Well, someone's super keen!" Albus replied with a smile.

"I just think-"

"It's okay Rose, let's head out before anyone notices."

They hid behind the statue of the medi witch for at least half an hour before Scorpius' head appeared in thin air. There were no smiles this time, just solemn silence as they gathered as best they could under the cloak. It wasn't until they reached the confines of the secret ward that any of them spoke.

"Scorpius, I'm so sorry." Rose offered.

"Yeah mate, heard the rumours going around. Sounds like you've had a rough couple of days." Albus added.

Scorpius merely shrugged. "S'okay. Not your fault. St-s-tupid to think I'd get through school w-w-without anyone knowing."

Rose responded cautiously. She was both desperate to apologise and tell him who had let the information slip while at the same time not wanting to let him know that she was already privy to this information.

"Do you know what happened?" she asked.

Scorpius nodded. He had either very quickly come to terms with his secret getting out or was masking his upset very well. "M-Mattie caught up w-with me to-today. She w-was very ap-ap-apol-apol, ugh, she was sorry." Scorpius was having clear trouble with the word 'apolgetic'.

"Are you doing okay?" Rose asked taking a step towards him, trying to gauge how much he was masking and also kind of hoping to hear if he was still 'with' Mattie or not.

"N- _nothing_ I can d-do. I'm n-not going to p-p-prove it to them if I can help it th-though."

Rose had such a desire to hug him in that moment that she almost launched herself forward but luckily Scorpius had turned away from her.

"W-what are we do-d-doing tonight?" Scorpius asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

It was Albus who answered while looking very sheepish. "Oh um, I don't actually know. We kind of exhausted all our options the other night and with the teachers hammering in to us about NEWTs and the importance of grades we haven't really come up with anything new."

"That's okay. I've been wr-writing stuff do-down." Scorpius answered to the complete shock of Rose and Albus.

"Writing stuff down? As in the answers to our questions?" Rose asked.

Scorpius shook his head, then pulled out a piece of parchment from his bag and handed it to Rose.

"Couldn't answer your questions so I s-st-started writing some other st-stuff."

Albus quickly snatched the parchment off Rose to read what Scorpius had written but Rose snatched it right back.

"Bloody Hell Albus, calm down, we can sit down and read it together."

They all sat at the desk that they had left in the middle of the room during their previous visit. While Rose and Albus pored over the contents of the parchment Scorpius busied himself by folding a blank piece of parchment in front of himself, staring intently as though it were the most interesting piece of parchment he had ever seen.

Rose and Albus read the information Scorpius had written:

_Alecto & Amycus Carrow – torture of muggle borns during their time teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts._

_Barty Crouch Junior – cruciatus curse and torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom_

_Antonin Dolohov – Unknown spell used on Hermione Granger in Department of Mysteries, internal injuries sustained to chest region_

_Dolores Umbridge – Use of the Black Quill on students in Detention during her time as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher_

_Draco Malfoy – ordered to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, poisoned Ron Weasley, cursed Katie Bell by means of cursed necklace, provided entry for Death Eaters into Hogwarts..._

_Lucius Malfoy – Housed Voldemort and supporters at Malfoy manor. Numerous crimes: too many to record_

_Bellatrix Lestrange – Numerous crimes, too many to record._

Rose and Albus looked at each other in confusion. Why had Scorpius listed crimes of death eaters? Was it some sort of code they needed to figure out? Scorpius had cramped a lot of the information the left third of the page which made Rose feel as though there was indeed a code he had come up with. It was as though he had left room for Rose and Albus to write their own findings. Rose looked at Scorpius to see if he could provide any form of explanation. He continued to look intently at his own piece of paper but instead of folding it, he kept turning it over and over. Rose immediately turned over the piece of parchment that she had in front of her and found more of Scorpius' writing. The writing was once again kept to the left side of the page and this time Rose thought it was definitely a code. Everything was written backwards: not only each word but every letter was also backwards as if appearing in a mirror. Rose did her best to reverse everything in her mind.

"That one clearly says 'library'. That one there says 'bathroom' there, oh okay so all together it's 'second floor bathroom' on that line. 'Astronomy Tower'.'

"Clearly there's a theme here, they're all locations in the castle. Scorp mate, don't want to be a bit more specific do you?"

Scorpius didn't directly respond. Instead he looked up into the ceiling where the flames of the torches were casting their dull but functional light. He waved his wand and a large glowing ball of light appeared above them, casting a much whiter and brighter light down on them all.

" _M_ ight b-be easier to r-read now." Scorpius said casually, but he now stared at Rose with such intensity she was sure he was trying to burn his intended meaning into the back of her mind. Scorpius had also continued to turn the paper in his hands over and over while he stared at her.

Rose looked down at the parchment in front of her. The bright light did not show up anything new. She turned it over as Scorpius was doing to his own parchment. She looked at the formatting, the gaps that he left and the way he had written in mirror image on the back. She looked up at the new bright light and back down to the parchment. Scorpius had stopped looking at her by this point. She lifted the parchment up experimentally so the light was glowing through the back of the page with the Death Eater's names and crimes facing her. As she held it up to the light, the words on the back of the page shone through so they were correctly formatted. She nudged Albus and they read silently together. The parchment now read:

_Alecto & Amycus Carrow – torture of muggle borns during their time teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. Library_

_Barty Crouch Junior – cruciatus curse and torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Second floor bathroom._

_Antonin Dolohov – Unknown spell used on Hermione Granger in Department of Mysteries, internal injuries sustained to chest region. Trophy Room._

_Dolores Umbridge – Use of the Black Quill on students in Detention during her time as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Seventh Floor Corridor_

_Draco Malfoy – ordered to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, poisoned Ron Weasley, cursed Katie Bell by means of cursed necklace, provided entry for Death Eaters into Hogwarts... Astronomy Tower, Potions Corridor, Hogsmeade, Tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy_

_Lucius Malfoy – Housed Voldemort and supporters at Malfoy manor. Numerous crimes. Hogwarts Express, Black Lake_

_Bellatrix Lestrange – Numerous crimes. East Wing, Clock Tower_

"Is this still a code? None of these locations seem to match the crimes." Rose asked but was really just thinking out loud.

Scorpius was still busying himself with his parchment, apparently unable to answer. Albus took a few seconds to respond.

"Some do actually. See here?" He pointed to 'Dumbledore' and 'Astronomy Tower' then 'Death Eaters into Hogwarts' and 'Tapestry of Barnabas the Barny'.

Rose looked at him, confused. "That tapestry? Entrance to the Room of Requirement."

"Oh." Was all Rose could offer in response. She scanned the list once more, reading and re-reading the crimes of those who were directly related to Scorpius. The term _numerous crimes_ reverberated in her head. Surely Lucius and Bellatrix weren't the only ones on the list to commit a long list of crimes? She knew for a fact that many others on the list had committed far more than just one crime. Seeing her own Dad's name on the list also made her feel extremely uneasy. Had Scorpius' father really poisoned her Dad? Was this Scorpius' way of telling them not to trust him given his family's dark past? It looked like they had to do more research on the crimes listed and where the crimes took place. Oh brilliant, more study.

"Sorry. I w-wish I could do m- _more._ " Came Scorpius' voice. It appeared that Rose had said her last thought out loud. She felt so guilty when she heard the weakness in his voice.

"Oh crap, sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud! I'm just tired and this is all so confusing and concerning and overwhelming, not to mention that every bloody class is stressing the importance of exams right now and I haven't even started studying and I hate studying. I don't even know where my notes are – " there was a stifled 'Ha!' from Albus who was very amused by this, clearly alluding to the fact that she was a terrible note taker and probably didn't even have any notes from her classes.

"And I'm not saying this because I don't want to help you, it's completely the opposite, I'd rather be spending time with you doing this than having to think about exams and jobs and futures and whether – " she stopped herself when she almost said 'whether you like me too'. Her hormones were really the least of her worries at the moment. She took a big breath to calm herself.

"I just meant that-"

"Rose, stop before you hyperventilate. We get the point." Albus offered. "Scorp, is there anything more you could tell us, any way you can point us in the right direction with this?" he held up the parchment.

Scorpius shook his head.

"Righto, how about we leave it here for tonight and Rose and I will start to look at this and see what we can figure out? We can meet up here again on Friday night and figure some things out."

Scorpius nodded.

As they were packing up, Scorpius took a notebook out of his bag and handed it to Rose.

"Ta-take this. I know w-we don't have all the same sub-subjects b-but you can use w-wha-what you need."

Rose noticed the notebook that he was continuously writing in during class. She remembered a comment he made ages ago about how he rarely had to study as writing everything down seemed to make information stay in his head. Rose was overwhelmed both by his kind gesture and by the sheer lack of time she had before exams.

"Thank you. I'll get it back to you as soon as I can."

"N-no rush." He replied as he handed her the notebook.

* * *

Albus and Rose had made it back to the common room without incident. As they parted ways at the staircase leading up to the dormitories, they shared a silent look, both of them hoping that Scorpius was as lucky. The invisibility cloak was definitely an asset but it wasn't a complete guarantee that he would return to his own dorm uninterrupted. Rose finally snuggled down into her four poster bed and drew the curtains but for obvious reasons found herself unable to sleep. She had been trying not to admit it to herself but through all the stress she got quite a thrill from their recent problem solving, plotting and sneaking around. She knew it was very selfish of her to feel this way as Scorpius had been through so much in his time at Hogwarts but there was something very satisfying about seeking justice for him and also a sense that they were fighting for the greater good. It was the first time she could even remotely relate to the stories people had told her about her own parents during the war and for once it made her feel important; not because of who her parents were but because of her own actions. Knowing that she couldn't sleep with these thoughts running through her head, she decided to take out Scorpius' notes he had given her. If she couldn't sleep then she felt she should do something productive with her time. Studying may also keep her mind off the anxiety of getting relatively nowhere with their plans to expose Scorpius' tormentor.

Rose hoisted her bag up onto the bed and took out two notebooks; one neat and very orderly mostly due to lack of use, while the other was quite voluminous as it was brimming with ruffled pages and additional pieces of parchment. Well, she at least now knew her own notebook was in her bag all along. The contrast between Rose and Scorpius' styles was quite alarming. Rose sighed as she realised how inadequate her own note taking skills had been during her time at Hogwarts, but there was nothing that could be done now as exams were rushing headlong toward her at quite an alarming pace, hence why she had forgotten about them in the first place. She opened her own book to a new page and then carefully opened Scorpius' tome, trying not to disrupt the additional pieces of parchment as she didn't want to hand the book back to Scorpius completely out of order. She smiled at the first page. Scorpius' neatly flourished writing filled every inch of the page. His writing was miniscule, trying to fit as much information on the page as possible, and he had a very orderly use of headings and paragraph breaks. A wave of affection washed over Rose as she took in Scorpius' writing. It was as though his personality was right there on the page. Everything seemed so neat, organised and considered but it was all out of practise rather than being innately wired this way. Rose briefly scanned the first few pages as these notes were for Astronomy which she was not taking. The first loose piece of parchment held a more haphazard note, some crudely drawn constellations and scribbled notes that Scorpius must have used during one of the late night sessions when the lighting was low. Rose flicked through the notes until she came to a subject they both shared – Potions. As she started reading, she grabbed he quill and readied it with ink, writing down important pieces of information and reminders for her own exam.

Rose was so bogged down in taking her own notes and getting lost in Scorpius' handwriting that she hadn't noticed a couple of hours had passed. Her neck ached, her hand was cramped and it was now two in the morning. Rose stretched, her shoulders and elbows cracking under the strain and she shut her own notebook with such conviction that it made a loud _flop_. Rose yawned and carefully placed any loose pieces of parchment back into place within Scorpius' book. Knowing she would only have another few days to go through the contents she quickly flicked through to see which sections would be relevant to her. She coloured a piece of blank parchment bright yellow and ripped it into little bookmarks which she put into place to mark the relevant pages. She had found all entries relevant to potions and transfiguration but stopped suddenly when she went to mark another entry. There was a spare piece of parchment for this particular entry that looked much different from every other addition. This one had larger writing, lots of random scribbled pictures and different colours on it. Rose chuckled out loud.

"Looks like even Scorpius isn't immune to Professor Binn's waffling." She muttered to herself and started to read the page with amusement. The first part of the page was filled with doodles of brooms, trees and boxes in addition to text that one typically writes when they are either bored or testing out a new quill.

_Hello. It is Monday today. My name is Scorpius Malfoy._

_Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy._

The next line was messier than the first two, but still impressively neat and legible.

_My name is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. I am writing with my left hand._

The writing returned to its usual impeccable neat flourish.

_I am bored. This is boring. Who the hell lets a ghost teach anyway? Blah blah blah history blah blah blah._

_SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY_

_ScOrPiUs HyPeRiOn MaLfOy_

_Rose_

_Rose Weasley_

_Rose ?_

_Rose 'no idea what her middle name is' Weasley_

_Rose M_

Rose furrowed her brow at Scorpius' writing of her own name. It appeared he had become bored with writing his own name and started with hers, but the last version of her name had a large ink blot which bloomed on the page straight after the M. There were also numerous little ink dots which flecked the page as though he had been tapping the tip of his quill against the page absently. What had he been about to write? Rose's pulse raced at this and she held her breath as she read on.

_Just ask her you wanker, just ask her. How how HOW!?_

_Rose, did you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?_

_Rose did you want to go out with me?_

_Rose, I insist you go out with me! Yeah, because commanding her is sure to work you stuttering toss pot._

_I like you Rose. More than a friend._

The last sentence was quite forcefully scribbled out, followed by the sentence:

_Why am I so lame? I'm Scorpius Malfoy and I like Rose Weasley but can't build up the fucking nerve to ask her out!_

Rose read and re-read the sentences in disbelief. She wondered whether this was his idea of a joke, he did have a very dry sense of humour. But why would he joke about this and in this very specific manner? He hadn't planned on lending her his notebook. Even if he had, there was no guarantee that she would read it given his notebook was so full, therefore it was most likely not a joke but the drabbles of a very bored and lovesick teenager. No, not love sick – like sick? A crush? What exactly was this? And when did he write this? Rose noticed that while Scorpius' formatting was impeccable, he never dated his notes as he merely put the heading of the subject and then topics on the top of the page. She didn't mind this when she was purely studying earlier but now a date stamp would help her immensely. Rose was focussing so hard on trying to figure out _when_ Scorpius had written this that she hadn't even thought about her own reaction or what her response should be. There were so many emotions coursing through her that she suddenly felt very tired. However this didn't stop her from picking up her quill and writing one word on the parchment before closing the book and finally going to bed.

* * *

Friday night came around simultaneously quicker and slower than Rose had imagined. She had attempted to busy herself with study as much as she could, distracting herself from all the thoughts in her head. She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to or anxious about seeing Scorpius again. Given the fact that she was only able to see Scorpius in the presence of Albus, she had decided not to approach the topic of her feelings with him. She would however, hand him back his notebook as soon as she saw him. Albus had kept the parchment Scorpius had given them during their last meeting so at least Rose didn't feel the need to constantly figure out the code or message that Scorpius was desperately trying to convey.

That night Albus drifted towards her a little earlier than usual and Rose noticed something odd about her cousin. He almost dragged her off to the corner of the common room, away from all prying eyes and ears.

"Albus, what's wrong?"

"Rose, I have to tell you something."

Rose didn't respond, she simply held her breath.

"When I tell you this, I want you to remember that we are in a common room full of people so you can't lose your shit okay?"

"Albus-" Rose warned. Her brain had been through so many shocks and revelations in the past week that she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear one more.

"Okay, just remember, room full of people. Also, you have to hear me out before you get too mad."

Rose glared at him. Albus took a large breath in as if steadying himself and committing to what he was about to tell her.

"I was the one who let it slip about Scorpius stuttering." He held his finger up at Rose in warning as her face contorted into shocked rage. "You have to hear me out remember?"

"Albus you-"

"No, you have to hear me out!" Albus waved his wand and cast a silencio spell on her. While this enraged Rose more, she at realised that even attempting to yell at him in her current state would be futile so grudgingly listened to him instead.

"You listening? Good. I let the secret slip because we have absolutely nothing to go on with this Scorpius situation. We don't know who, when or where this is happening. Well actually," he pulled out Scorpius' parchment. "I have a feeling that these locations that he's written are the where, but it doesn't help with the who. I went through tonnes of information on the death eaters he listed and their crimes but there was only one solid connection I could make – each of the listed crimes for his Dad happened in and around Hogwarts so it would make sense that these are the locations where his attacks took place."

Rose had given up on being angry and was now intrigued. She had so many questions. Albus must have noticed her questioning look as he continued.

"Then why write all the other names, crimes and locations down? No idea. Maybe he had to write his answers amongst a much larger set of information, you know, to confuse the vow a bit? Or maybe there is something more to the rest of it, I have no idea. What I do think is happening though is that he's being punished for being a Malfoy. It's not just his dad on this list, its his grandfather, his aunty. He is related to _so_ many of the original death eaters that I think someone's playing vigilante."

Rose was still looking at him with an unanswered question.

"So how does my spilling about his stutter relevant? This is the part you're not going to like. I let his secret out because if someone is punishing him they will likely use this as ammo to target him, probably seeing it as a sign of weakness. My plan is tonight we meet up, I tell him what connections I've made with the parchment. Then I make an excuse that I need to take the cloak back, knowing him he will give it back freely but that leaves him exposed to go back to his common room. We offer to take him back to his room under the cloak, he'll know it would take forever to get back there with all of us under there and because he's the bloody giant he is, the only way to make it work is for him to walk freely while you and I are well covered under the cloak because of course we won't let him go back without us trying to protect him."

Rose let the information sink in and Albus' plan became clear. Rose felt a warm prickling behind her eyes but ignored this. Looking Albus directly in the eye she pointed to her mouth. He immediately undid the spell.

She cleared her throat. "So, you want Scorpius to be exposed so hopefully he will get attacked and we know who it is without him telling us."

"Not completely exposed. We'll be there to stop it."

Rose's vision was slightly blurry now. Her next question was confirmation that she would go along with this plan despite how ill it made her feel.

"And if he doesn't get attacked tonight?"

"We do it again, and again until it happens."

"And if Scorpius realises what we're trying to do."

"I'm actually counting on him figuring it out. If we find out who it is without him saying anything, maybe it will void the vow or at least allow him to talk freely to us about it. We're not under the vow so we could then tell McKinnon and maybe McGonagall and get some justice."

Rose sniffed and Albus stepped forward to hug her.

"He'll be okay. We'll be there remember?"

Rose nodded.

* * *

They met up as usual outside the hospital wing. Each time they met it seemed that the air became heavier. Rose felt almost suffocated under the weight their plan this evening, but their preparation went as smoothly as it could go.

They sat down and Albus mentioned what he had deciphered from the information Scorpius provided them with. Scorpius predictably felt ill but managed to stay alert. They trialled Scorpius writing additional information down but this again was unsuccessful. It came time for Albus to make his excuse to take the invisibility cloak back. He made up something about needing it to go to the library to research more about the death eaters listed, and Scorpius did exactly as Albus had predicted. Rose had been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time, feeling nervous butterflies in her stomach as the boys talked. Tonight she could really sympathise with Scorpius constantly feeling ill during these discussions.

Just before they exited the room into Madame McKinnon's office Rose grabbed Scorpius gently by the arm, halting his exit through the archway. Albus noticed this and to Rose's relief he gestured that he would wait in the office while they stayed on the ward alone. There was silence as Rose reached into her bag and pulled out Scorpius' notebook. She held it in both hands as if it were a treasured object.

"Thank you for lending me your notes." She said, looking down at the book. "It helped a lot."

Although she couldn't see him, Rose heard the shy smile in Scorpius' voice.

"N- _n_ ot a problem. Just gl-l-glad I could help, you seemed p-p-pretty stressed."

Rose let out a laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"Yes well, can't say I'm not stressed anymore but it definitely helped." She handed the book over and he took it. The silly romantic part of Rose was hoping that his fingers would graze hers as he took the book back but no such thing happened. As she finally met his eyes she was struck by a tiny bit of confidence.

"You know your writing is impeccable. I have no idea how you keep it that neat when you write so fast. I mean, you're writing is neater than mine even when you write with your left hand!"

At that comment, Scorpius tilted his head in confusion at her. Rose simply gave a small smile back, heart racing far too fast for how subtle her clue had been about seeing what he wrote about her. She took this moment to step through the archway and join Albus while Scorpius put the book into his bag, still baffled.

* * *

Rose found it very strange walking through the castle with Albus under the cloak with her. She had only ever borrowed it to use on her own, it was a much more difficult affair to walk long distances with two huddled under the cloak. No wonder Albus was so confident in his plan. They had been following Scorpius for a very uneventful 10 minutes when he had glanced back at where he knew them to be following, then made a turn that Rose and Albus were confused by. Instead of taking the most direct route to the Slytherin Common room, he appeared to be taking quite an unnecessary detour. Rose's nervous butterflies increased as there was something in his glance that concerned her. They followed for another five minutes before Rose's paranoia was found to be warranted. As they rounded a corner, Rose and Albus stopped abruptly as Scorpius was no longer moving. They were on the first floor, about to take what Rose realised to be a short cut to the dungeon corridor which lead to the common room, but the entrance to the short cut via the tapestry was blocked by a figure. Rose felt Albus tap her arm, indicating for her to get her wand out. They had agreed that they weren't going to intervene until they knew exactly who was responsible for attacking Scorpius. They also didn't want to attack first and ask questions later in case it was just a mischievous first year roaming the corridors late at night. The figure started walking slowly towards them. Rose noticed that Scorpius' shoulders hunched slightly and he glanced ever so slightly in their direction.

"I thought you might try this way into the common room one of these days. You really are a glutton for punishment aren't you Malfoy?" Came a very calm voice. To anyone who didn't know the circumstances it would appear to be a light and conversational tone. It sounded familiar to Rose.

Scorpius didn't reply.

"I was hoping so much that you would come by this way, especially after such an eventful week you've had."

Rose knew that voice but she couldn't place it, not with the rushing of her heartbeat in her ears and the adrenaline coursing though her body.

Scorpius still didn't answer.

"Who would have thought that someone from a family of death eaters would have such a debilitating speech impediment? And here I was thinking that you didn't talk much because you just thought you were above us all." The person's tone was no longer light, but still appeared calm. "Well, no doubt that is still the case but how embarrassing for your family to have produced someone like you. I'm sure it would be much harder to Avada someone if you're unable to say the spell properly. I tell you what though, I've been doing my research and had been wracking my brains for your punishment for these last few weeks of school, I mean I _really_ wanted to make it count given there's not much time left together but the slip up of your little secret has helped me immensely."

The figure moved forward. Scorpius remained still. Rose wondered why he hadn't moved.

"Wait until you hear it, there's such a sense of poetic justice to this one. Do you know who else stuttered?"

Scorpius lowered his head and shook it very slightly. As the person kept walking toward them, Rose started to shake. She couldn't use her wand even if it were the right time to do so.

"You know what to do."

Rose watched as Scorpius slowly knelt down on the stone floor, head bowed while Sean Martin stood over him.

"Scorpius Malfoy, you are hereby sentenced to be punished on behalf of Quirinus Quirrell for attempting to resurrect Lord Voldemort and harbour him on his person whilst teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In addition to these more severe crimes, you will also be sentenced for his slaying of countless unicorns in order to drink their blood to sustain the half life of Voldemort. Do you deny these charges?"

Rose looked on in horror as Scorpius shook his head.

"You are hereby sentenced to three drops of Veritaserum, followed by interrogation."

Sean pulled out a small vial of clear liquid from his robes. When he spoke, the formalities of the 'sentencing' were long gone, replaced by an almost teasing tone.

"I know it isn't the usual form of punishment, but it just seems so appropriate. Do you know what one of the main ingredients is for Veritaserum Malfoy?"

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Unicorn horn."

"Correct. As I said, couldn't have been a more poetic choice – the stutter, the unicorn crime. It's just a happy coincidence that your punishment is pure humiliation."

As Sean took the stopper out of the bottle, Rose felt Albus tense. It was time to step in and expose Sean for who he really was. Rose gripped her wand tighter and was about to join Albus in hexing the boy but from the corner of her eye she noticed the slightest of movements from Scorpius. He had waved his wand behind his back so Sean was unable to see. A spell was sent at Rose and Albus and they were now glued to the spot, unable to intervene.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you got through that, anyone see that coming? Not the biggest twist in the world but I hope it had some impact. I hope it wasn't too much info for one chapter - I did provide the information overload intentionally because there is only 4 weeks of school left at the start of this chapter so Rose and Albus are pretty desperate to find ways to help Scorpius quickly, and Sean is deparate to make Scorpius' life as miserable as possible right to the end of school.   
> As always, thank you to those who commented, I love hearing your thoughts!
> 
> Hope you're all staying safe and healthy xo

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I started this fic in 2010 on ff.net and even posted it here but my account has since disappeared so I thought I would return it to this wonderful community. This was my first forray into creating a completely different backstory for Scorpius so I hope you enjoy. Please leave kudos or comments if you enjoyed it or have any feedback, I love hearing from readers!


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